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Letter to Editor
ShareCommercial recyclers need assistance, too
November 27, 2008The federal government is looking seriously at ways of bailing out the auto industry as a way of saving jobs and keeping the economy moving at a reasonable pace in Canada.
It’s important for those with the ability to give such a financial hand up to also take notice of struggling businesses that are linked to the environment.
In this case, that means commercial recyclers.
Companies that buy and resell materials we get rid of are in big financial trouble, through little fault of their own.
The economic crisis is at the heart of the dropoff in the recyclable raw materials market.
It is imperative that the federal government realizes the implications of a critical business crisis on commercial recyclers to the community at large.
These companies do much to keep materials out of landfills and have been compensated fairly in the past for their efforts.
When their ability to take what we give them is hampered due to market conditions beyond their control, it behooves those with the power to consider the same help it offers others.
At curbside, residents might not see any effect of the recyclable market meltdown for a while, and hopefully never will.
But if they’re going to do so for one industry, upper levels of government should also look at assistance for others, including recycling firms.
To do otherwise risks undoing the good work that has been done to encourage people to reduce and reuse and recycle and to think about the big picture – the long-term health of our planet.
To embrace the notion that the environment and the economy are not necessarily linked is dangerous.
To have one without the other is literally impossible. Nanaimo News Bulletin
