The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
It wasnÕt that long ago that about 500 residences were using the Recycling CentreÕs now-defunct curbside pick-up program. Yet as of June 2, the centre had only 110 people signed up for its bid to reactivate the program. What changed? Unlike last time, the centre is being strict when it comes to the $50-per-household fee needed to cover gas and staffing costs. Under the honour system used previously, this fee was largely ignored. What this tells us is that a sizable number of citizens care enough about recycling to use the pick-up program, but not enough to pay less than a dollar a week for it. They are not prepared to put their money where their mouths are. So what now? No one can argue that recycling is a good thing, but there is great disagreement over how to get more people sorting their reusables from their waste. Some recyclers will argue in favour of a revival of last yearÕs ill-fated proposal to have our three municipalities levy each home an extra $50 a year and use the money to offer curbside pick-ups to everyone. But that proposition failed for one simple reason: it lacked widespread support. In a democracy, it often doesnÕt matter whether a proposal to government is good or bad, right or wrong, only whether the general public wants it. The people are the government. Politicians, even at the local level, crave the support of the populace. If our elected officials had viewed a recycling fee for every home as a winning idea, one with a consensus in favour, they would have approved it. But that wasnÕt the only problem with the concept. Fee proponents suggest that by forcing everyone to pay for a service most of them have never used, the populace would finally see the light and gladly start recycling. The problem with that is that people forcibly pay for a lot of things they donÕt use. Rather than feeling compelled to use them, people often just grumble about it. Maybe thatÕs just human nature. If anything, a mandatory pick-up fee risks alienating citizens from the recycling cause, particularly at a time when Flin Flonners have seen their water bills shoot up an astounding 129 per cent in three years. Right now, people really donÕt want any more hands in their wallets. Perhaps a better way to increase recycling is to win people over. Spread the virtues of recycling and why itÕs so important to the community and the planet. Explain to them that recycling is actually quite easy and after a while requires no extra thought. With this approach will come more people happy to voluntarily pay for a service we know they will use. Getting people to want to do something will always be more effective than taking their money in the hopes theyÕll come over to your way of thinking. Local Angle runs Fridays.
