Hat could learn recycling lessons from Vancouver

By Letter to the Editor on January 24, 2018.

We spent more than a week in Vancouver visiting family over Christmas and became very aware of how much garbage 14 people under one roof can produce. We were trying hard to get on board with the Vancouver rules and we soon recognized Medicine Hat could make a lot of adjustments to our recycling/garbage system.

First, in Vancouver, the citizens purchase a garbage container according to the size of their family. The largest bin available is half the size of ours in Medicine Hat and this bin gets picked up once every two weeks. We soon were rethinking tossing everything into the garbage. Food scraps and paper go into a composting bucket. Plastic, glass and metal into a separate bin, cardboard and newspaper go into yet another container. This recycling gets picked up every week, and don’t even think you can fudge the system.

If you try to toss something into the wrong bin your whole lot will be waiting for you in your back alley to store for yet another week. Plenty of time to practice getting it right. People are soon trained to handle their garbage in the best way.

What actually is left to throw out? Not much. It’s a good system. If people have to pay for their abundant overflowing bins then habits change. Our city could easily pick up once every two weeks and soon recycling would become an option. In Vancouver, recycling is picked up from your home and the homeowner makes sure it is sorted properly.

For those who faithfully make that trip to the recycling bins once or twice a week, this seems like a gift. Of course you will have to pay some for this service but the winners will be our grandchildren. Medicine Hat, we can do better. Our city is small, our country is large, but let’s not fill it with our garbage.

Eleanor Zabolotney

Medicine Hat

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