By Arthur Weinreb
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Taking out the trash ain't what it used to be. Back in the olden days you just threw the garbage into a bag or can and once, or more likely twice a week, hauled it to the curb. Then it would be taken away, usually by a couple of overpaid, unionized municipal workers. No one ever gave a second thought about where it all ended up.
Times have certainly changed. In addition to what is now called "garbage" we have blue boxes, grey boxes and little green bins. Red boxes, brown boxes, purple boxes and rainbow boxes in selective areas can't be far behind. Putting out the garbage use to be a simple task but now it almost takes an instruction manual to decide what goes where.
In February, the Ontario government introduced a deposit return program for liquor and wine bottles. Purchasers pay up to 20 cents extra for their adult beverage of choice that is refundable when the bottle is returned to any provincial Beer Store. The purpose of the deposit return is to prevent the bottles being placed in blue boxes and being broken before they are disposed of. Broken glass is less useful and brings in less money than intact bottles do.
Through a freedom of information request, Canadian Press has obtained a report that states that municipalities, specifically major Ontario cities are losing millions of dollars as a result of the bottle return program. Chalk one up for Dalton.
Every bottle that is returned to a Beer Store is one less bottle that ends up in a blue box and that means less glass for municipalities to sell. And even though the province's blue boxes have less content in them, the costs to remove them in terms of labour and equipment remain the same. As well, the bottles that are put in blue boxes are more likely to be taken by street and homeless entrepreneurs who are disparagingly referred to as "scavengers". Scavenging has of course become more lucrative and easier since February as anyone who has seen the lineups at a Beer Store can tell you. It's amazing how the homeless and other marginalized members of society are referred as mere "scavengers" by the politically correct crowd when these bums have the nerve to encroach on their turf. They should all be lying around their heating grates minding their own business. To all those scavengers out there -- get with the program!
The various levels of government are always fighting with each other; it's what they do. They fight over money which of course in the end, is always paid by the hardworking taxpayer. The squabble that will erupt over which level of government gets the big bucks for recycling glass and saving the planet at least provides some comedic relief for our tax dollars at work. Municipal politicians like Toronto's mayor David Miller know that they are fighting an uphill battle with the McGuinty Liberals and there is a limit to how much they can complain about the deposit return program that does prevent liquor and wine bottles from ending up in landfill.
Of course the prime directive of governments, especially those on the left is to be "fair". Why Dalton McGuinty even appointed a Fairness Commissioner and you can't get any fairer than that. We need a fair solution to the problem of who cashes in on bottles. No matter who gets to do it, it simply can never be perceived to be fair. There is only one solution.
As the situation is such that a solution can never be found that will make everyone happy, the fairest thing to do is to make everyone unhappy. Ontarians should deprive both the province and the municipalities from making big bucks from bottles and the environmental chest thumping that goes with these recycling programs. Let's just throw all the bottles in the garbage. The unions will haul off just as much stuff, the scavengers of society will have less scavenging to do and both sides will be equally financially penalized. And we will be spared having to make the tough decision about where these empty bottles should go.
It won't help the environment -- but it will be fair.
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