Langdon's Insult

Time and again, the North Okanagan's relatively new recycling program has been criticized by residents.
People are fed up and resorting to placing all the "unsupported materials" which, years ago, were accepted in the blue bag program, into the garbage.

As a result, Mother Earth suffers degradation.

The Regional District of North Okanagan appears immune to the criticism and doggedly stands behind their masters in Victoria who imposed the system here, all with the tasty carrot of a million bucks for each regional district to get the system implemented.

Following Bonnie Shideler's excellent letter to the editor some time ago, another criticism today hit the newspaper, penned by Mark Levey.  From conversations I've overheard, the comments appear to mirrow what many people have decided.

Excerpts of his superlative letter to the editor follow:

"A quick visit to MMBC's own website gleans this little gem of information:

B.C.'s Environmental Management Act defines packaging as 'a material, substance or object that is used to protect, contain or transport a commodity or product, or attached to a commodity or product or its container for the purpose of marketing or communicating information about the commodity or product."

"The truth, as known by avid recyclers, is vastly different.  The plastic bag used to 'contain' my potatoes is not a blue bin item, the moulded styrofoam used to "protect" my stereophonic equipment is a no-no.  Bubble wrap?  -- forget it.  The carton that is used to 'transport' my juice?  Not in MMBC's program, thank you very much.

"Who cherry-picked the manufacturers that are part of the program?  Who decided that they needed to be cherry-picked?  Who (because it certainly isn't us, the citizens of B.C.) benefits from this minimalist and inadequate approach to recycling?

Before the intervention of MMBC, the list of recyclables was growing and, unhampered by restrictive regulation, local depots were finding more and more ways of accepting and recycling items that were not even on that growing list.

I, for one, have quit trying to do the right thing.  After either watching the Emterra driver sift through my recycling bin and leave certain items on my lawn, the street or boulevard, or coming home to find the scattered mess, I decided to be a non-recycler.  That is after being an avid recycler, both at home and on the job site for more than 30 years.

I've been a non-recycler for awhile now and I am astounded at the time it frees up by just stuffing everything in the garbage, the space it frees up without those damn bins (and all the containers for the stuff the bins don't take) all over the place, the guilt it frees up over wondering if you're doing the right thing.

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm still a recycler, just not here in B.C.  When I vacation in Mexico, in a town about the size of Enderby, I can recycle plastic bags, glass and all sorts of stuff that you can't here.

When I visit my in-laws in Ontario, I can recycle there, because the program makes sense.

I just hope that, in my lifetime, B.C. comes up with a sensible, inclusive plan for recycling that will make people want to contribute their small efforts towards a common good.  MMBC ain't it." 
                     Mark Levey


So...now get a load of what Mr. Allen Langdon, Managing Director of Multi-Material B.C. wrote in a letter "Recycling rules explained" just two days earlier.

This blog however will begin with Langdon's concluding sentence, because it is so insulting to residents...and their intelligence:

"...we strongly encourage residents who wish to recycle

 these items to combine depot trips

 with other weekly errands

 such as grocery shopping."

         Allen Langdon, MMBC

Excuse me?

Combine depot trips with other errands?

Duh!

Who the hell put this man in charge?

Who does he think he is to suggest something -- to adults -- that even a six-year old would instinctively know?

Langon's insult.
It's patronizing and condescending.

So typical of a corporation that probably wouldn't have existed had it not been for government receiving the owner's bribe...yup, that's what the million bucks was and is.  It was to "encourage" regional districts to implement the program.  No competition, no bidding by other contractors, all under the guise of 'brought to you by industry'. 

What bloody nonsense!

Especially since the largest bakery in Canada--Weston's--is one of the 'brought to you by industry' companies.
But guess what?
You can't put Weston Bakeries' plastic bread wraps into the recycling system either!

Langdon's letter isn't even worth including, except for other yadda yadda phrases such as:
"...and at depots achieves a positive outcome."
"...accountability and transparency is new to B.C."
"...difficult to properly collect and recycle at the curb."
"...takes up a large amount of space on collection trucks, making it inefficient to include."
"...very difficult to process."
"...require special handling and manual sorting."
"...can become tangled."
"...can wrap around sorting machinery, causing delays."
"...only certain...in a way that meets MMBC's strict end-market environmental standards."
"...appreciate the concerns around CO2 emissions created from driving to depots, and the difficulties that seniors or others may face."


So...anybody want to STOP purchasing from these industry manufacturers?  For the list of corporations that "bring you" MMBC, see blog story here dated April 25, 2014 entitled "Exactly, Jennifer!"

The people who pull Langdon's strings (besides the Liberals in Victoria) are:

John Coyne, Chair of Unilever Canada (multinational/Anglo-Dutch)

Denis Brisebois, Treasurer, Metro (multinational/Canadian)

Christine Bome, Walmart (multinational/American)

Scott Bonikowsky, Tim Hortons Inc. (multinational/Canadian)

Robert Chant, Loblaw Companies Limited (Canadian)

Dave Moran, Coca Cola Refreshments Canada (multinational/American)

Gord Meyer, Procter & Gamble (multinational/American)

 

 

"Time to stop buying Weston bread," offers Kia.

 

And Walmart, Metro, Unilever, Tim Hortons, Loblaws, Coca Cole and Procter & Gamble products.

 

 

 

 

Yup...and Walmart, Metro, Unilever, Tim Hortons, Loblaws, Coca Cole and Procter & Gamble products.

 

A big thanks to Bonnie Shideler, Mark Levey and many others who've written in opposition to RDNO's recycling "program"...more accurately described as a recycling farce.