To dump, or not to dump Teachers frustrated with regional district for tossing recycling out the window ' : By MIKE COX A NEEDLE IN a haystack is an appropriate metaphor for teachers who are frus- Uated looking for recycling programs in Terrace. Paul Cloutier, a science teacher at Skeena Jr, Secondary, used to mun a fecycling club in the school, but found getting rid of recyclable materials was too - hard. | “p "Every year I did the pro- gram it got harder and har- der to get rid of the paper that had been collected,’’ he said, *Cloutier would collect per and drive it down to Dinithers or Kitimat, but this was all done at his cost, ‘ “T would have to borrow a van to take the paper away and it was getling to the int where it was too much ofa hassle,”’ he said, +The recycling club at Skeena folded in 1994, but the school still hasan in- formal program, - The B.C. Building Corpo- ration (BCBC) here pro- Vides recycling boxes for of- fice paper to be recycled, and will accept it from Skeena provided all staples and paper clips have been removed. BCBC doesn’t accept paper from individual resi- dents and is considering canceling the program with Skeena Jr. after this year, Every classroom in Skeena has a recycling box, but Cloutier thinks more should be done in Terrace. “Schools are a perfect at- mosphere to raise awareness about recycling. It’s a Shame there isn’t more of a push for it in the city,’’ Cloutier said. Brian Hildebrandt, princi- pal at Uplands Elementary, said it also tries to run an in- formal recycling program. Uplands students and teachers collect paper in BCEC boxes, but drop off their paper in Kitimat two or three times a year, “T live in Kitimat so it’s not too big of a deal,’’ Hildebrandt said. Kitimat Understanding the Environment (KUTE) is a non-profit recycling society in Kitimat that accepts paper, tin and cardboard for recycling. KUTE is subsidized by the city, said city manager Traf- ford Hall, and this year is getting 366,700 to off-set operating costs, Hall said there is more of a political appetite for recy- cling in Kitimat than in Ter- race, “Terrace doesa’t have the same will to recycle,”’ he said, Bard Hall, president of KUTE, said their program Starled because the regional district had no programs to offer. “[ don’t sec being done for recycling, It’s supposed to be a regional responsibility,’’ she said. Roger Tooms, manager of works and services for the. regional district, said the district tumed down a proposal for recycling that would have cost $139,000 a year. “We don’t want to have to impose additional ex- penses on the tax payer,” be said. Tooms said the regional district's goal is to have pro- grams that are effective, bul don’t cost a lot of money. “We're interested in pro- grams thai aren’| going to involve laying out a high number of funds.’’ Currently, the Thornhill landfif] has a re-use section Where people can salvage parts from fridges, lawn mowers, bikes, ovens and other machinery, as well as salvage firewood. Canadian Waste Disposal also has cardboard recycling bins jocated at the Thornhil! landfill where residents and business’ can recycle their cardboard. Tooms said programs like ihese are effective because they don’t cost a lot of Imoney and reduce the amount of material going into landfills, ‘We're going to continue looking for ways to reduce waste,”’ he said. The Solid Waste Manage- ment Plan (SWMP) was in- troduced in the early 1990's by the provincial govern- ment, and is intended to teduce ithe amount of material going to landfills by 30 per cent by the year 2000. : Terry Roberts, an official with B.C. Environment, said all regional districts in B.C, had to comply with the SWMP and submit their specific plan to the Ministry of Environment. The plan for the Kitimat Stikine Regional District (KSRD) was approved, Roberts said, and focuses on landfill life extension. This plan bas been ap- proved, but “‘recycling pro- grams were left up to the discretion of the regional district,” he said. Aa OVER FLOWING; eS That's Skeena Jr. Secondary science teacher Paul Cloutier with an overflowing recycling box that has to be taken lo the B.C. Building Corporation to be recycled, Cloutier ran a recycling club at Skeena, but gave up on It because he had to drive the paper to Kitimat or Smithers for recycling. anything The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 14, 1999 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD GO GREEN: Ben Spang} (left) and Kyle Krupop (right) show off the paper they'ra going to recycle after collecting it for a year. Students at Uplands fill recycling boxes with white paper, but principal Brian Hildebrandt has to truck the paper back to Kitimat with him to be recycled, foes OUT WITH THE OLD: Kyle Stamhuis tosses yard waste into the Thornhill Landfill wood pile. The wood pile isn't part of the re-use centre, but people come in and take away wood to burn in their homes, which cuts down on the amount of burn- ing done at the site. skeena Queen Charlottes supports recycling program RECYCLING options in Terrace are the regional district before we start any limited, bul in the Skeeana Queen Charlotte planning,’’ Wilson said. Regional Distzicl (SQCRD) a recycling © Money is a source of contention with this plant in Prince Rupert serves the entire joint program, Wilson added, because the region and accepts 22 recyclable materials. . KSRD would have to do the cost analysis Rather than let individual municipalities to join up with the recycling plant in Prince squabble over recycling, the SQCRD de- Rupert. cided to develop a recycling program that ‘We can’t do anything if the regional dis- would encompass all municipalities, said trict doesn’t have the political will to join waste management director for the this program,’’ he said. SQCRD, Don Wilson. The Prince Rupert recycling facilily is Wilson said they took advantage of fund- subsidized by taxation, Wilson said, but the ing available in 1995 to start their recycling taxes are shared by the whole regional dis- program. trict and don’t change from cily to cily. “The B.C, government has basically ‘'We’re approximately 54 per cent self walked away in terms of providing funding sufficient,’ Wilson said. for programs now,”’ he said. Wilson said their plant costs residents Wilson said there has been talk of the $150,000 a year in taxes, bul that has KSRD joining up with their recycling pro- stayed the same for the past four years. gram, but the talks have been very in- ‘If you have a level of taxation at the formal. same level for four years you have to be “We need to have a commitment from doing something right,” he said, The Mail Bag Back country has room for all kinds of users Dear Sir: Christiana Wiens’ June 16 article ‘Groups feeling excluded from vital land use debate’’ scems a little un- balanced, so I thought I’d clarify a few points and add a few others, It was disappointing that Ms, Wiens didn’t interview anyone from the Mount: Remo Backcountry Socicty (MRBS),. The article makes it sound like everyone else affected opposes it. Not true. As one of many backcountry users not connected with any club or society, I know lots of people who do not oppose the land use proposal. The non-motorized designation simply makes official what presently is the principal recreational use of the Crown land in ques- tion. Consider the total land area suitable for (and used by) local snowmobilers, from valley bottom up into the al- pinc, including many long access routes not practical for skiers to use, Compare that with the areas proposed by the MRBS, The proposed area is small by com- parison, most of it inaccessible to snowmobiles duc to the terrain anyway, which is partly why it was selected. Local backcountry skiing is centered around the Shames ski area. The article’s quotes rc: Shames are a little off the mark, This proposal does not affect the ski area’s ability to expand, The ski area sits on a minus- cule part of the corporation’s total [ease area. None of the lease arca is affected by this proposal. Anytime Shames is ready ta build a gondola down the Zymacord from the top of the Dome, or a telepheri- que to the top of No Dogs, or anything else, it won't be this proposal that stops them. And after-season snow- mobile access won7t be affected cither, contrary to the article, Ironically, Shames’ lease is so big, covering way more land than they'll ever expand into so that virtually ali backcountry day skiing is done in the lease. This means this proposal isn’t guaranteeing anything for those users. It is the terrain-Limited access and the ski area bound- ary policy that assures the high quality experience there. It would be disappointing to see that change. This is a backcountry ski and snowboarding area rival- ing any better known location for case of access and quality of snow and terzain. The sugecstion that the MRBS takes advantage of the ski area’s parking Tot is also wrong. Those skicrs arc taking advantage of a road built with public funds that leads to the ski area, and then they park in the ski arca parking lot because, a) they've bought a season or day pass just like everybody else, and b) parking on the road side is illegal because il would interfere with snowplows, which might prevent other traffic from reaching the ski area. To spend money, to have fun. The article makes it sound like backcountry users mooch off the ski area, The fact is, Shames’ back- country skiers are a large group of those skiers who have financially supported the area from day one, Nobody is taking advantage of anything other than what they’ve paid for. MRBS’ cabin access does not even involve the lifts, and the proposed site is outside the lease area. I think it’s great that the snowmobile club is going to send a rep to the LRMP meetings. Shames Ski Corp. should send a rep, too. Anyone who cares about local land use issues should attend, This issue isn’t about losing the right to do whatever the heck we want to do wherever we want to do it. We Jost that right long ago, if we ever had it at all. it’s about a public body trying to ensure everyone gets a fair opportunity to have fun in their own way on Crown land. There’s enough space for everyone, If we all stop freaking out about what’s said in the newspaper long enough to get informed, discuss the issues, and under- stand the other guys, we could reach reasonable and fair decisions. Rod Get, Terrace, B.C. They can’t be shut out Dear Sir: 1 thank you for your consideration of my feelings and image in the community (‘Man wants compensation and old job back now that sex charge has been slayed,”’ , The Terrace Standard, Tune 23, 1999), but there’s one main point] feel that was missed. Tam an ex-convict and have lived in fear of someone one day pointing their finger in my direction, saying “why are you dealing with him?” I feel obliged to share my nightmare in order that other ex-convicts who have dedicated their lives to the fight for social justice, and who have also made the same mistakes [ have, would not be unprepared for what can happen, I have served 18.5 ycars in prison on six occasions, from the meanest reformatory schoo! in Canada at Guelph, Ontario to Kingston Pencteniary. , I know there are a lot of people in jail who could, with help, be contributing citizens by way of their ex- perience in life. ; 1 know I will continue to serve, voluntarily if I have to, the mandate of the anti-poverty movement in deal- ing With impoverished peaple who will never see their suffering in a business directory as is now happening. I want to ensure they will never be denied member- Ship in the local anti-poverty society because they don’t have the $5 to join. I want them to have input into what the soclety Should provide and be members of that socicty, not on- lookers, And I express my appreciation for the friendship and support that helped me through the decpest of depres- sions and those that have helped to carry out the daily work. Gerry King, Skeena Anti-Poverty, Terrace, B.C, About letiers THE TERRACE Standard welcomes letters to the editor. Our deadline is noon Fridays; noon Thursdays on a long weekend. You can write us at 3210 Clinton Si, Terrace, B.C. V8G SR2. Our fax number is 250- 638-8432 or you can email us al standard@kermode.net Letters mast be signed and must have a phone num- ber. ;