The City of Pitt Meadows is considering fining residents who throw away recyclable materials.

Currently, only 37 per cent of Pitt Meadows residents recycle, according to a recent survey.

That’s pitiful. It’s 2009, not 1979.

There’s no excuse not to recycle, given what we now know about climate change and how easy it is to separate paper, cardboard and plastic. All you have to do is put them in the right colour bag and leave them on the sidewalk once a week.

But apparently some people are too lazy and selfish to even do that.

And because of them, the city might start looking through everybody’s garbage. What year is it now, 1984?

Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that. But the city has to pay regional tipping fees ($82 a tonne), and in case you haven’t heard, the Cache Creek landfill is getting kind of full – to the point Metro Vancouver considered shipping 600,000 tonnes of our garbage to Washington State by train.

So Metro started this Zero Waste Challenge and imposed new regulations last year on what people can no longer toss in the trash – including computers and car tires.

The goal of the challenge is to divert 70 per cent of the waste currently going into the landfill.

Pitt Meadows is at 30 per cent.

The city sent 2,282 tonnes of garbage to the landfill last year, while recycling 962 tonnes. That’s $187,000 for garbage. By meeting the 70 per cent target, the city could save $49,000 a year.

And tipping fees will go up.

The city’s planning to continue its recycling education campaign – including “oops” stickers – and could develop a waste management plan. But if residents don’t smarten up, the city should track down those not recycling and make them pay.

Serves you right.

– The News