The Editor,
Re. "No glass makes no sense" (Letters, The Tri-City News, May 23).
I could not agree more with Nicole Parton's letter. Yes, recycling works when it is easy for the consumer.
The new MMBC recycling program has taken one step forward and two giant steps back. It doesn't make sense that we can no longer recycle plastic bags and over-wrap in our recycling cart. This shortsighted move has confused my eight-year-old son, who works hard to be green. He is learning in school that we need to be responsible for our environmental choices so that future generations will not suffer as a result of our poor decisions.
It is imperative the city provide a convenient way to recycle our bags. I would hazard a guess that people who use plastic grocery bags instead of reusable fabric bags are certainly not going to cheerfully drive down to Encorp to recycle their plastic bags - those bags are going to end up in a landfill.
In the fall of 2012, volunteers for the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup collected 26,143 plastic bags along beaches in B.C. And if 26,143 bags were on the beach, just imagine how many more are killing marine life in our oceans.
The city of Port Moody website indicates that city residents can "expect a few minor changes" under the MMBC program. Not accepting glass or plastic bags is far from a minor change, it's a huge mistake.
My family is very disappointed that the mayor and city council aren't taking the initiative to care about our environment. Where is the logic here? I know I'm not the only resident who is stunned at this regressive decision.
Erin St. Jean,
Port Moody
