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PAGE 4 WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7,1987 whitby e VOICE OF THE COUNTY TO Published every Wednesda By 677209 Ontario Inc. Phone: 668-6111 The Free Press Building 131 Brock Street North )WN P.O. Box 206, Whit by, Ont. The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents ay DOUG ANDERSON Publisher MAURICE PIFHER Editor KEN HATHAWAY AdvertisIng Manager The future of recycling Durham regional council recently made a wise decision to set aside funds, beginning with $1 million in 1987, for what could someday be a very expensive search for a future landfill site. Now our. regional representatives must weigh the future of what could be an integral part of waste management study - recycling. There's no disagreement that recycling should continue in the region. But there is some argument as to how recycling should be carried out- by the corporation, Durham Recycling Cen- tre, set up about nine years ago as a non-profit community service; or by collection by private contractors through public tender, as suggested in a report by municipal works directors and clerks of the eight municipalities in the region. That lat- ter report says all communities should drop Durham Recycling, and that recycling be a local, not regional responsibility. Durham Recycling Centre began to outgrow its present facility, on Wilson Rd. in Oshawa, two years ago and can no longer expand. Currently there is curbside collection of newspapers, bot- ties and cans in Ajax and of newspaper in Pickering, Oshawa and Bowmanville. For about a year, there has been collection of all -three materials in the West Lynde area of Whitby, as a pilot project here. Uxbridge and Scugog Townships have been waiting to join in the Durham Recycling Centre program but their participation awaits an in- creased facility. Such a facility is what Durham wants this year, estimated to cost $650,000 and to be located on part of the region's 40-acre Whitby- Oshawa works depot property on Conlin Rd. in Whitby. As much.as $367,000 in grant money is available for the facility from the Ministry of the Environment and Ontario Multi-Material Recycling Inc. Durham has suggested that the municipalities enter a cost-sharing agreement with the region for a regional recycling program. If support for that plan is not given, warns Durham Recycling direc- tor Glenda Gies, that capital grant money, as well as another grant of more than $100,000 toward 75,000 household containers, will be withdrawn. She also said Durham Recycling would close down if the report by municipal works staff was given support. It's not likely, however, that the recommen- dations of the report will be those made by the region's joint works and finance committee now studying the options. Only Whitby council has so far endorsed the report while councils for Ajax, Pickering, Newcastle, Oshawa and Uxbridge have rejected it, according to Jack McCorkell, director of operations of the region's works department. (As of press time, Brock and Scugog had not yet responded to the report by municipal works staff). Instead, although no definite recommendation has yet been made, it appears the proposed cost- sharing agreement could be before regional council for approval by Jan. 21. Apart from opposing municipal funding of a corporation controlled by the region, the report by municipal works staff sees a large deficit from Durham Recycling by 1992 instead of the surplus expected by the region. McCorkell admits tht "economic realities," such as a drop in the priclé of newsprint, really have to be considered. But hê says with the existing price stability for materials that provide an adequate return on collection costs, recycling under the present form makes sense," and prolongs the life of region landfill sites. New life should be given to Durham Recycling, including expansion, only if our regional representatives are convinced that the cost, dif- ficult as it may be to forecast down the road, is worth it to reduce the tonnage of garbage now going into landfill. There is public support for recycling but residents should be assured that the regional operation is the most effective, both in operation and cost. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Town council encouraged Bluegrass Meadows project To the editor: I would like to congratulate your paper on the accurate repor- ting of your year-end summation of the Whit- by council performance for 1986. If Mayor Attersley was correctly quoted as saying Bluegrass Meadows and Decom " was out of the hands" of council, then it looks as if we are to have more of the same take it or lump it politics for 1987. Both of these 'SITUATIONS' are a direct result of actions, taken by the Whitby council. The Bluegrass Meado'ws application should never have gone past the administrative committee stage in the first place. Council had a second opportunity to correct this error the following week, and Post office plan 'illogical' To the editor: The report of the House of Commons standing committee on government operations in regard to the Canada Post Corporation's five- year plan for 1986-87 to 1990-91 called for the closure, amalgamation and franchising of rural post offices. The committee report, which was presented to the House on Dec. 15, 1986, recommended a few changes and em- phasized some aspects of the plan. One point that the committee enlarged upon was the privitization of certain rural post offices. While the committee's obser- vations about the human resource issues are appreciated, I must stress that I consider the privitization of these operations to be most illogical. If, by suggesting the post of- fices in certain rural communities be turned over to private operators, the cor- poration is saying that a profit can be made from them, why then is the corporation, which needs money, giving them up? If they are not profitable, what guarantee do the citizens of these com- munities have that their postal service will con- tinue in the future? What will happen to the government representation in these communities, to its ability to assist citizens with the completion of government forms such as U.I.C., gasoline tax rebate, income tax, bir- th certificates, access to information, etc.? The post offices in the rural areas are the per- fect example of what the motto of Canada Post SEE PAGE 18 failed to do so. Council even had a third oppor- tunity in November, but were too busy remem- bering for TV, and forget why they were at a council meeting. The Town Council en- couraged the situation to develop. They heaped scorn on those who opposed the plan, and passed out priase for those people who spoke for the project, even though some. of those people, like some Town officials, do not live in Whitby. The residents spent much of the summer researching council records and meeting with other involved par- ties. Not only did we get chided as bigots, but council did not even in- vestigate the validity of our arguments, which were all documented, and presented to the council members. The situation has escalated to the point where there have been some very questionable moves made by Gary Herrema of the Durham Region, with regard to our tax money. The current status is before the courts, although it is not yet clear where the Durham Region fits into this puzzle. If anyone deserves to be sued, in this dispute, it is the Whitby Town planning dept., followed closely by the Town Council. All this would be history if Whitby council had taken a time' to review the residents' arguments. This has already cost residents a few thousand dollars. It has also cost you and me>. the taxpayers, SEE PAGE 18 .-.- . .. . .. "Seniors sure have t0 sîtiy in shape £0 cross the' sîreets!" 1' 4 -------y 1~aàrmiti. K~e ?re~ fr ........... t~ .. ..... . e Ic * g ete ........... ..... . ...... . ......p ... . w . ............i 't g ......................... 1 j o.W 401., .......... eNo.