Editor:

Re: At last, someone to blame, Aug. 7.

In his column, Dr. Roy Strang opines on a range of environmental issues, but badly mischaracterizes Metro Vancouver’s management of solid waste.

Metro Vancouver has placed the reduction of waste as its first and preferred approach to handling the region’s garbage, and, through its Zero Waste Challenge, identified an interim goal of 70 per cent diversion from disposal by 2015.

This goal, a key element of the region’s new Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) that is nearing completion, builds on Metro Vancouver’s longstanding commitment to waste reduction, recycling and reuse activities as a means of minimizing waste volumes requiring disposal.

While Strang may be unaware of that commitment, it is relevant to note that in the mid-1990s, Metro Vancouver set a diversion target of 50 per cent by the year 2000 – a target that was met and subsequently exceeded.

Our current diversion rate is 55 per cent, well above the Canadian average of about 22 per cent, and comparable with progressive urban areas throughout North America and Europe. But we are not resting on our laurels.

Through the Zero Waste Challenge and the new SWMP, Metro Vancouver is proposing even more focus on the diversion of waste from the disposal stream through product stewardship and take-back programs, enhanced recycling and reuse opportunities, and even regulatory actions to further reduce waste volumes.

Metro Vancouver will be consulting the public on the new SWMP this fall, and we look forward to the active participation of the citizens and businesses in the region as we aim for our 70 per cent interim goal – and beyond.

In the meantime, we encourage your readers to visit www.metrovancouverrecycles.org for information on reduce, reuse and recycling opportunities.

Bill Morrell, Metro Vancouver

Strang responds: I must accept the letter-writer’s account, but I wonder why so much more attention is paid to disposal of garbage than to reduction.