The 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.

We believe it’s important for those with the ability to give such a financial hand up to also take notice of struggling businesses that are inextricably 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 current 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, then it behooves those with the power to help financially to do so.

The recycling companies are contracted to buy material from the Capital Regional District until 2012. That means they either have to grit their teeth and deal with the financial fallout of a collapsed market for their products, or potentially look at breaking the CRD contract.

At curbside, residents may not see any effect of the recyclable market meltdown for a while, and we hope they never will.

We call upon the upper levels of government to look at some form of assistance program for recycling firms, one that allows for a long-term vision. 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 – i.e. the long-term health of our planet.

To embrace the notion that the environment and the economy are not necessarily linked is dangerous. For to have one without the other is literally impossible.