Charging fees will worsen problem of waste disposal
Hamilton Spectator, Letters to the Editor
RE: ‘Hamilton-area dumps charge for non-recyclable waste’ (July 6).
Here we go again. This situation is becoming like a dog chasing its own tail.
When will Hamilton-Wentworth region learn that some people are real cheapskates? They’d rather spend $10 on gas finding a place on a lonely country road to dump non-recyclable waste than pay the proposed $5 at various municipal dumps.
It is bad enough that some jerks are already dumping anything from old sofas to tires and building materials on side roads. The new proposed fee will be a blanket invitation to do some more polluting of our country roads.
In my other life as a spare bus driver for Laidlaw, I see a lot of countryside. It is disgusting how people leave their unwanted junk on public and private properties. To remove and clean these messes will certainly cost more than the new $5 fee collection would provide.
I agree that sooner or later, some fees will have to be collected for the disposal of non-recyclable garbage. But is the cure worse than the illness?
Perhaps building permits should have a rider attached, whereby there is a disposal fee charged upfront. As for other stuff such as old paint or used butane gas bottles, I have no pat answers. Some of the current policies are good. But do not charge at time of disposal. Maybe at time of purchase such a cost should be calculated into the sale price.
This problem reaches beyond municipal boundaries. The province, as a whole, must get involved in.
Dez Miklós, Hamilton.