30 = Terrace Review —— Wednesday, November 20, 1991

R E CY L N G continued from page 1 ~ : . | . :

‘though, that a grant-in-aid to the

tenant would be more effective
because there was no guarantee
the landlord would pass the
saving on to the tenant.

Then came the new business
portion of the council meeting,
and with it a motion from King,
stating clearly that the financial
woes of the Skeena Valley Re-
cycling Society would be fatal
without immediate intervention.
A grant of $14,000 was required
to pay the society’s rent from
June to December. One half of
the grant would be repaid to the
city by the society no later than
Dec. 31, 1992.

Without the grant, King said,
Skeena Valley Recycling would
be out on the street by the end
of the month and the city’s first
effort in getting a full-scale
recycling centre up and running
would be lost.

Alderman Danny . Sheridan
questioned King’s motion. He
agreed the city would have to
invest some money into the
recycling system at some point.
But was this the right time or
the right group?.And on top of
that, the recycling commission
hadn’t recommended a grant,
Why not?

King told Sheridan the idea of
a grant had been discussed by
the commission, but it wasn’t
until after the meeting had been
adjourned that they realized the
society would be out of business
in just a few weeks.

Alderman Darryl! Laurent won-
dered aloud, if the city pays the
society’s rent to the end of
December, what happens in
January? The society hopes to be
in a better position by then, said
King, with a bottle depot and
government grants in place.

Mayor Jack Talstra asked King
about the organization of the
society. It’s a small group, said
King, but they plan to expand.
They now realize they are going
to need some help. .

At this point, Laurent sug-
gested King’s motion be tabled

to a Nov. 18 Committee of the
Whole meeting to give city
aldermen an opportunity to meet
with members of the society and
advisory commission. The tabling

motion was made by Sheridan.

and alderman Robert Cooper and
carried with opposition from
King.

On Nov. 18 council, society
and the advisory commission
met. The final decision left the
society ’s fate in limbo until Nov.
25 when council meets again.
This will give city aldermen
iime to consider the society’s
presentation and in the meantime
the 13-member recycling com-
mission can meet and make a
recommendation of their own.

The Nov. 18 mecting saw a
full turn-out by council mem-
bers, and was also attended by

lan Gordon, Shirley Palahicky

atid Rosemarie Goodwin from
the advisory commission, and
Randy Grelson and Scott Schoo-
nér, who are also members of
the commission but principles in
the recycling society as well.

_ Schooner told city aldermen
that they had first looked at

recycling as a business venture
but it soon became apparent the
money wasn’t there. Instead,
they formed a non-profit society
and opened their recycling depot
on April 6 of this year with a
total sense of optimism. The
recyclable material they needed
was at hand they believed, and
also, it seemed, a viable means
of transporting the material
south. But, he explained, things
just haven’t worked out as well
as they had hoped.

So what are the solutions? At
the Nov. 18 meeting there was
no mention of reorganizing the
society, as King had suggested
when he made his motion in
council. Where King said the
sociely was going to open it’s
doors, the society’s bylaws cir-
culated on Nov. 18 still state:
The number of directors shall
not be lees than three and not
more than five. And, the mem-
bership shall be limited to the
members of the board of direc-
tors. oe
But financial matters and pub-
lic education were discussed in
detail. The public must become
recycling conscious, said Schoo-
ner, in order to discover the
problem is not a matter of the
cost of sorting materials but the
habit of sorting materials. —

On the financial end of things,
Schooner said, they will soon
have a bottle depot in place — if
they remain in business. He
explained that Big River Dis-
tributors have offered them the
bottle-collection portion of their
business. The society would
make 20 cents per case in return
for the work of sorting and
Stacking the bottles. Schooner
said the potential revenue had
been estimated at $25,000 per
year.

Canadian Fibre in Vancouver
has offered a solution to the
transportation problem. If the
society can promise a minimum
of 100 tons of cardboard a year,
they will install the bailer they
need free. Other fund-raising
activities in the works, said
Schooner, are a bingo and cor-
porate sponsorships. According
to Schooner, Shell Canada has

already donated $2,500 for a

forklift.

Also, the society has been
invited to speak to the Regional
District of Kitimat-Stikine in
December, and something that
might come out of that meeting
would be tipping fees at the
Thornhill land fill. A tipping fee
is charge to commercial users; a
fee would make it economical
for users to sort more of their
trash, for recycling, and dump
less.

A long-term financial solution,
said Schooner, would be to own
their own building at a iandfill
site. Still, admits Schooner, the
cost of recycling may always be
higher than revenues, and if the
industry is going to survive other
sources of funds will eventually
have to be found.

The matter of a city grant to
the Skeena Valley Recycling
Society will come before council
next Monday night. The dis-
cussion in committee Monday

. we
a ry

eae ch ne she, qos

indicates there are several
options to consider. But as alder-
man Ruth Hallock pointed out,
an outright grant would not be
out of line. The city has done it
before, she said, using the

Shames Mountain Ski Corpor-

ation as an example,

And King offered another
example of city sponsorship that
may also offer direction towards
Schooner’s long term solution to

Gemma Bed
cr
Bath Boutique

the high cost of rent. North
Coast Metal Recycling special-
izes in metals and operates out
of a city-owned building on a

city-owned lot — and pays only
$100 rent each y

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