KENILWORTH – In his Nov. 4 update to Wellington North council, Ward 3 county councillor Campbell Cork stated Wellington County’s Ride Well program is up and running.
For more informationridewell.ca is the place to go, Cork stated.
Service is offered from 6am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
Cork noted to the end of October, there had been 72 rides.
“It’s not gangbusters, but it is a start.”
He indicated part of the county’s job is to continue to promote the service.
Cork also noted there is a waiver parents can sign should they want their children to be able to attend extracurricular activities – the student can then use Ride Well without the parent or guardian going with them.
Blue box program
Cork said the transition to producer responsiblity for all the blue box material is moving forward.
He explained it just means producers are going to be responsible for the items they make. The transition to 100 per cent responsiblity is happening over the period 2019 to 2025.
Cork believed the critical dates will be between 2023 and 2025 “when the rubber hits the road on this one.”
He noted he recently took part in a tour of Waste Management “and I was really happy to learn that only 3% of our blue box materials in Wellington gets separated and sent to the landfill site. That means 97%is recycled.”
Cork then said a review of the county yellow bags indicated 20% of those materials could be recycled and not sent to landfill.
He was told two of the biggest culprits are toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls.
Cork said Waste Management, with its facility in Mount Forest, dedicates that entire facility to Wellington County blue box material.
He contended county residents “are really excellent blue boxers as compared to one of our neighbours who will remain unnamed.”
That municipality is requiring staff to re-sort the material.
“Our (blue box) material is so good, it processes quickly – there are no brake drums or bicycle tires.”
He agreed there are always questions as to why municipalities recycle some items and not others.
Cork cited an example of Wellington County recycling black plastic while the city of Toronto doees not.
He said the reason is fairly simple. The Toronto facilities uses optical scanners which cannot recognize the difference between black plastic and the black conveyor belts.
“We have humans doing it, they can see it, and it gets recycled. More power to us,” Cork said.
