As of October, merchants who once had county recyclables picked up at their shops were on their own.
County council remained adamant last month the service, in place since the 1980s, would be cancelled. It extended it from the summer, when it was scheduled to cease.
Councillor Lynda White said she understands why the committee cancelled it, “But, I am disappointed we are doing so. I really hope that at some point in time we can revisit this.”
When the county began its recycling programs back in the 1980s, it wanted all kinds of recycling. Waste management committee chairman Bob Wilson stated earlier that the county literally begged merchants to take part. In Centre Wellington and Arthur, they did.
Wilson has also explained the county must now replace a great deal of its equipment for about $1-million, and it cannot afford it, particularly for a program not offered to everyone.
“We don’t have the money to do it,” Wilson said. “If we are ever to do it in the future … it just takes money. County [council] can do it right now. We can put a program together for the whole county.”
Councillor Jean Innes lobbied earlier this year to extend the program to the fall, and she thanked Wilson for that. In the notes from the committee meeting, Innes informed the committee many people emailed her about the service.
Kate Kurck, from Whyms & Wishes, on the boardwalk on Mill Street in Elora, stated, “We need even more blue box facilities, not less,” and taking recyclables to Guelph is too far.
Councillors have stated they fear what was once recycled will now be placed in the garbage.
Innes cited Resa Lent, from the Desert Rose Cafe, and Alex Sgro, from Alex’s Restaurant. They both said they need the service.
Lent said she runs a restaurant and lives in an apartment, so the county’s tree program is of no use to her, but “recycling is a really important thing that the county can do for me and the environment.”
Sgro had noted to Innes that the big recyclable restaurant sauce containers would each fill an open blue box, and storage would be unsightly because he is trying to clear the side of his restaurant because it is used as the laneway for customers going to the art gallery behind his business.
Ken Taylor, of Little KaTy Variety in Elora, said many retailers he spoke to will not hire special haulers, and will toss recyclables in the garbage.
Fergus residents, too, con-tacted Innes. Peter Egger, owner of the Breadalbane, said he pays $36,000 a year in taxes, plus thousands for water and hydro. He said of the county move, “now, they want to add another cost, asking me to go to private pick-up.
Innes said Egger fills two large county recycling carts per week, and simply cannot use the regular blue boxes because they would “scatter the whole street. This is going backwards; everybody on the planet knows we have to recycle.”
Innes said of Egger, “He is not a happy camper.
Nexans, of Fergus, has been participating in the county recycling project for years, and plant manager Cameron Matthew wrote, “This decision seems very short-sighted; one would think the county would be encouraging higher rates of waste diversion from landfill instead of taking this backward step.”
He urged council to rethink its decision.
The president of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce, Garth Green, wrote to Wilson that his organizations had met with representatives from chambers in Minto, Arthur, and Guelph, and said that if some areas of the county have not had a chance to take part, perhaps it should be offered.
Pat Salter, representing the Arthur chamber of Commerce, added, “many programs are not universal or available to all county residents, even though we pay through out taxes. The pilot project of picking up farmers’ garbage seems very impractical because of lack of room to place garbage at the farm gate, especially in winter. The fact is that most rural people take care of their garbage needs.
“On the other hand, urban people have made good use of this program and feel it is of good value for their tax dollars.”
Salter added, “They also find it hard to understand a county surplus, an increase in the levy, and a reduction in service.”
Salter, a former county councillor, said, “When the snow plow wears out, you don’t stop plowing the roads. Therefore, when garbage trucks wear out, they, too, should be replaced.”
Councillor Joanne Ross-Zuj said commercial people want to recycle, but the cost is difficult for them. As well, many have no space for a number of smaller blue boxes they would need.
She asked the committee to consider reinstating the program in the 2008 budget.
That prompted councillor Brad Whitcombe to say cancelling a program and restarting it in a few months would make councillors ‘kinda look like geniuses. If we’re really thinking of it, it would be nice to make those truck last until Dec. 31.”
But Wilson said cancelling the program and restarting it would take many months. Warden John Green said the whole problem is it will be a cost of $5,000 to $6,000 to businesses, but there are only 125 commercial and industrial users of the county program.
He said if the council does bring it back, it will have to “make it work.
“The whole problem is we have 5% or less of people using this program.”
