A shame that councils don’t care enough to try
To the Expositor:
In May 2014, I attended a Central Manitoulin Waste Committee meeting to present information on composting. Rumour had it we may have to start trucking garbage as the dump was almost full.
I presented Compost Canada’s statistics; over 50 percent of all household garbage is organic and can be diverted from landfill. I passed out information about an impressive program on an Island in BC where farmers are picking up organic waste from restaurants, $2 composting bags are available to residents for pick-up or drop-off, volunteers attend community events to separate recyclables and compostables from other garbage. What great ideas!
I also told council that Burpee Mills had a composting unit called “Earthtub.” It can turn resident’s organic waste into lovely fertilizer which could be sold. Their township got it through the Ministry of Environment. Could we?
I offered to volunteer my time and energy into this project if council agreed it was worth pursuing. I never heard from them. Fast forward four years, and I hear trucking garbage begins July 1.
When I contacted a councillor to see if there had been an investigation into composting I was told there is not a lot of public willingness to change. I would need to spearhead a delegation. I would need to attach figures for costs, benefits, savings, budget requests, etc. What? Why me? Who decided trucking our garbage was a good idea? Was there a delegation?
Shame on Central Manitoulin for not caring enough to at least try.
Sue Rumble
Mindemoya
