| rgnnact — Those tires pil-
-ing“up in the lots of local

“fetailers may soon be put to

S some use. ~

Frazer McKenzie says a new
recycling - Credit ‘system and
moves’ to-ban the dumping of
tires should turn them into a-
golden business opportunity —
. nota liability.

But the Smithers: environment
ministry’ $ solid-waste manage-
ment officer says the new credit
system for-used tires and bat-
teries — introduced June | — is.
still going through its growing
pains.
~ So far used tires aren’t being
transported to recycling centres

\, = as envisioned by Victoria — ©

but’ are piling up around town,
‘because the. city has stopped
allowing tire dumping at its
landfill.

AS. entrepreneurs become
aware of the credit system,
: McKenzie expects someone to

” “Each: tire has an in-
“herent value. Like a pop
- pottle, it’s worth money.

/Theprogram is suppos-
ed to have enough
< money in the system to
ensure the flow of tires
keeps moving.”

““take advantage and set up a
local marshalling yard or even a
* - Tecycling operation.

= “There’s a real opportunity
for, entrepreneurs to get into this
- business right now,” he said.
: *Somebody’s going to realize
there’ § a viable business oppor-

“tunity just-sitting there.”

». Consumers are now paying a
3 tax for disposal of ald tires
“when ‘they buy new ones. That
goes. into Victoria's new Sus-
* tainable Environment Fund.
‘Out of that, the province pays
“recyclers an average of about
-$1.50'a tire to turn them into
“everything from doormats and
flower. pots to railway ties and
“truckbed liners. Manufacturers
oe are using the tires as fuel —
“such as'a Vancouver cement
“plant that’s burning them. iin ils,
~ kilns ~ spits be cine paid 4 Ba ye

“Sper ti é. ae enn
-That® ‘ind: of. incentive, says

McKenzie, - is designed to en-

" start up in more‘remote regions

ms Stories by Jeff Nagel

ire recycling

courage entrepreneurs - across

the province to‘ find ways to.

store and ship the used tires to
market, ;

“Fach tire has an inherent
value,"’ he explained. -“‘Like a :
pop bottle, it’s worth money.
The program is supposed to.

have enough money in the.’
system to ensure the flow of ©

tires keeps moving.”

An entrepreneur who decides :

to take local retailers’ ‘tires,
stockpile and ship them, is paid
a transportation credit based on
how far the tires must be ship-
ped to recycling operations.

That credit starts out.at a.

fairly lucrative . per kilometre
raté, bilt declitie? qiickly: ‘Ship-
ping -a ton. of. tires. 500km
generates a $122 credit, while
shipping that ton-°2,000km
yields only $182: .

That’s because shipping long |

distances should be more effi-
cient. It's also supposed to en-
courage recycling operations to

to take advantage of the higher
transportation credit-for shipp-
ing short distances.

: At least that’s the theory,

So. far,
nobody in the northwest has ex-
pressed any interest in starting @
company to stockpile and ship
the region’s tires.

“Six weeks has not. been
enough time for the private sec-

tor to respond and put the in- .

frastructure in place,’ he said.
“We want to give it enough
time to work,’’

One of the keys to the success

of the program is taking. away
other ways of disposing-of the
lires. ;
On June 1 the City of Terrace
banned the dumping of tires at
its landfill site, but the Kitimat-
Stikine regional district is conti-
nuing to.accept them at its
Thornhill dump.

“We have to work towards
the termination of the landfill-
ing of tires,” McKenzie said.
“It's contrary to the intent of
what this program is all about.’’

Until tire dumping is stopped
everywhere, he said, fetailers
wort, ay money to send
dow
panied may HOE staf imp because’
they’re not confident about’ the
supply of available tires.

, STELLA HAIGH, 15, a summer worker at the Skeena ‘a valley Recyet
Ing Depot, dumps a new load of crushed tin cans to thase already
amassed, She Is one of several high school students involved with
the. depot, whose job includes binding and ‘shredding paper,

crushing. tin cans and breaking bottles for recycling.

says McKenzie,-.

a “Tarrace Standard, Wednesday, August 28, 1981 —

its local snag

OLD TIRES 2 are piling up around store manager Steve Amos down at Contract Tire Ltd. on Hwy16 west.

t Fedit'systert has left local retailers with nowheére'to Send
theisoldtires. Contract Tire hasa large Tot ne al ‘Sette Company Tenlekperienciitg as much ‘difficult: “| ; :

south and slMpiig eon Amos saysche province’s-new tire récyciini

ty as some smaller outfits are.

4

a help

TERRACE — Terrace’s recycl-
ing depot could soan be forced

to shut down if its organizers

aren't able to solve the host of
problems now facing them.

The Skeena Vailey Recycling
Society depot opened four mon-
ths ago in a Hwyl6 warehouse
just west of Eby St., behind
Kondolas Furniture.

But organizers are still battl-
ing to pay the rent, find affor-
dable ways to ship material to
market, and let the public know
where they are,

“‘There’s a lot of people who
still don’t know we're here,”
says Scott Schooner. ‘‘That’s
one of our biggest problems.
We feel there is enough product
in the community-to pay the
bills.’”

They're no longer plagued by
residents bringing in uncleaned
glass, tin cans and-plain gar-
bage.

“Things have really cleaned
up a lot,’’ Schooner said. ‘The
cans and bottles — 99 per cent
of it is clean with no labels and
no lids,’ |

But harsh economic realitées
continue.to. crash down on the

‘fledgling depot.

“We're behind in our rent,”
Schooner ‘said: ‘‘Dave
McKeown has been really good
in. not shutting us down. He’s

‘gaid-he'll work with us to keep it

going as long as he can.’’

Schooner said the depot owes
McKeown about $6,000 for
three months of unpaid reat.
‘‘Puel for the truck and stuff
like that is still coming out of
my pocket,’ he said.

“The biggest problem is pay-
ing the rent,’ he continued.
“We need to get our volume up
to pay the rent.”

Another crisis looms at the
end of the summer, when the
four students working full-time
at the depot under a provincial
government Challenge “91 pro-
gram leave.

“There's a2 lot of peo-
ple who still don’t know
we're here. That’s one of
our biggest problems.
We feel there is enough
product in the com-
munity to pay the bills.”

“We haven't even started to
figure out how to solve that

one,"’ Schooner said, ‘We're
going to need more
volunteers."*

He said they’re also using

. youths who have been ordered

to do community work hours as
part of probation,

One of those youths worked
out so well, Schooner said, the
depot has hired him full time.
**E1e seemed like a good kid. He

“Recycling depot faces trouble -

did what he was told and you
didn’t have to stay on him, so
we hired him for the summer.’

Whether the depot stays in
operation probably depends on
getting a better deal on shipping
the recyclables to Vancouver.

The depot sent its first ship-
ment of cardboard last month,
and organizers discovered they
aren’t getting the same
transportation deal with Riviow
Equipment Ltd. as Prince
Rupert’s recycling depot.

The Terrace depot has about
three trailer loads of cardboard
and two of white paper stockpil-
ed. in the warehouse, but
Schooner says they don’t plan
to ship it until they find a way to
break even on shipping costs.

They need to either negotiate
a better deal with Rivtow or
find an affordable way to truck
their shipments south, he add-
ed.

One possibility that could
change the equation, he said, is
buying an $18,000 export-
quality baler. That would allow
them to compress cardboard
more tightly, increasing the sell-
ing price per ton from $50 to

"$90,

To gel money for the baler
and other equipment, they’re
applying for a federal govern-
ment Environmental: Partners
grant, which could provide
them with up to $200,000 over
three years,

Lock up

Lock up your car.
That's what the. police
say.
They say things can
_be stolen if a car. is not
: locked:
~The police will .check

7. cars this weekend...

If a car is not locked,

ae ‘owner may have to

. . burned down.

On fire

There was a fire Inst
week.

Jt was in a 2 yard ‘of a
house on Hamer Ave.

A shed caught fire. It

A truck and a camper
also caught - fire. “They
were damaged.

Then a boat: “caught
fire. It was destr i

LETTERS

— Page AS

| | Changes
would
out

Not ail, visually impaired
persons are completely blind.
Most are able to accomplish
the same in their daily lives as
a non-visually impaired per-
son can. .

They can work, ride public
transportation and socialize
without depending on others,
though their ability to shop
may be hindered.

Many branch stores have
cards hanging from the ceil-
ing indicating which items
are sold in each row. These
cards are usually high up and
are printed in small letters,
To find a needed item,
visually impaired person may
have to spend valuable
minutes looking for the cor-
rect row,

Stores such as Co-op,
Safeway and Overwaitea
could make it easier on such
persons by replacing the pre-
sent cards. with new ones
which have larger letters col-
oured so that they contrast
with the background of the
card.

We would also like to br-
ing to your attention the Ter-
race Shopping Centre’s lack
of handicap parking which is
closer to the sidewalk outside
The Toronto Dominion
Bank and Shoppers Drug
Mart,

This added parking would
make it easier for both
visually impaired persons
and the physically handicap-
ped.

Phyllis Cornfield,
President

Sylvie Perreault,
Secretary-Treasurer
CCB Terrace White
Cane Club,

Terrace, B.C.

|Why:th

the Wee

are for”
pro-life

Dear Sir:

. I would like to make some
comments in response to
some recent letters to the
editor regarding the local
Lifeline demonstration when
over 100 pro-lifers held alter-
nating signs reading: ‘‘Abor-
tion Kills Babies'’. and
“Abortion Hurts Women"’,

To begin with, taking part
in a public demonstration,
especially a pro-life
demonstration, is something
that most participants con-
sider to be important enough
to risk the censure from their
neighbours and also from the
powers that be. :

The estalished power
structure of Canada is solidly
pro-abortion. Our politi-
cians, our judges, the media,
the universities, many of the
religious institutions, the ma-
jority of celebrities and also
most of our physicians are
united in an effort to

cont'd A7

ey,

About
letters

The Terrace Standard
welcomes letters to the editor
on all topics. All letters must
be signed and catry an ad-
dress. and local telephone
number. Addresses or phone
numbers won't be printed
with the letter, but they are

of. the letter's authenticity
The writer’s name will be
published, Requests for
names to be withheld may be
granted in extraordinary cir-
cumstances. °°: >
Thank you letters should
be submitted to the “Card of
Thanks’ . section . off the
classifieds. “0
Letters containing libelous

writer. All letters are run on
a space available. basis, with

necessary for confirmation]

or objectionable matter. will |
be edited or returned to the 7.

shorter letters likely to. ‘bed

BET FE EE ters tel

teers

eee nee

-

’

published soonest.

LN yy

vo ae re ee a ae an 7

Se Die a tee