Dear editor,
Regarding MP Blaine Calkins’ column from Oct. 28, please let me outline why the federal government is correct to finally start banning plastic. There are 5 R’s we should apply: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot. Only nine per cent of our plastic waste get recycled in Canada and since the oversees market for plastic got shut down, we have a huge growing problem — we don’t know where to put it anymore. To build a facility where we are finally able to recycle our plastic in Alberta is a good thing, but it will still take a while and it is not the end solution. As we all know we will not abandon oil or plastic, instead we need to find ways in our lives to use it smarter and less. And because society as a whole has a problem finding the correct ways for ourselves, we need a forward-looking leader. Everything we are implementing in Alberta right now should have been done years ago and it should have been up and running already. The Canadian plastic industry is already producing plastic which will rot or break down in a short period of time, but it is mostly for the European market, not for our market. The Conservatives know all that but this information will not be disclosed to us citizens because jobs are on the line. Which is not true either. Same as with oil, money and power are on the line. Canada is not a leader in anything in the world, in truth the world doesn’t know much of us. I know changes will come, we are normally 25 years behind the rest of the so-called First World. We have to smarten up better and quicker and the federal government is doing just that.
Edwin Geuder,
Ponoka