Saving money by conserving water, recycling no simple task

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Mark G.J. Smith

DEAR EDITOR:

In reply to a letter 'Town should encourage water savings, plastic recycling' in the Canadian Gazette published on Feb. 2 and the letter 'CP Water Rate, Recycle changes needed' published Feb. 9.

If you wait for your government (Federal/Provincial/Local) to legislate environmental responsibility for you, good luck, always too little too late.

Being environmentally responsible is a personal concern, it's up to you to start and recycle and conserve. Although Carleton Place council is doing what it can and probably doing better than most small communities in Ontario, government speed is like a biplane in a supersonic age.

As a long-time resident (retired back here in 2000), I did not understand why the town did not meter water either. I believe the reason is cost. The cost of purchasing and installing a water meter would have to be paid by each and every homeowner/landlord. Either paid up front or added as another non-variable cost to your water bill.

As well the increased administrative costs in reading, analyzing and billing each residence would need to be covered. This would increase the overall cost, plus there are the other non-variable base costs included in the water bill, which cover the operating costs of the water and sewage plants.

As well, there is a reserve fund cost which provides for future improvements and/or replacements of the sewage and/or water infrastructure. In this way the Town will not need to borrow funds when these large money projects come due (I learned that during the budget meetings).

The per-litre cost would probably be fairly low as the non-variable base costs would have to be covered on a per-residence cost. Even if you used no water, you would need to pay this amount.

Water costs are probably similar to my hydro bill, I have always been a conserver. When I switched to TOU, I tried everything, and I mean everything to limit my Med and High Rate usage. Nothing worked, the saving were teeny tiny.

I emailed Hydro One and got a cost breakdown then I analyzed my costs - last month $16 for power - over $30 for non-variable set costs. So saving a dollar on electricity usage makes almost no difference to my $50 bill.

I still conserve but mostly ignore TOU. This would probably be similar to any savings a person who did conserve in the first place would receive on their water bill, as the increased non-variable base costs would be the same whether there was one person or 10 people living in the residence.

I have been 'hanging out' at the Council meetings for over the last six months. Every Tuesday at 7 p.m. till about 9 p.m. and here is what I understand.

As for recycling garbage, during previous council meetings, renewing the next garbage/recycle contract has come up. It needs to be signed soon (in less than 16 months), so there really is no time left to overhaul it.

Council has discussed everything from: leaving the contract as it was, adding a provision to allow the inclusion of other items (#3-7) for recycle pick-up at a later date in the new contract (this was the consensus I believe), all the way up to also picking up organic waste.

Picking up all garbage and recyclables sounds good and responsible and should be simple, but it's not that simple. The contractor has to purchase new equipment and/or make modifications, this will take time as he could not do it overnight.

Especially for the organics, there are a lot more rules and regulations in setting up a processing plant. Plus the contractor will need a new location to process the organics that will take a lot of time to set up (if they pick a location close to you, will you complain).

Plus increased costs, all this will cost money. Maybe you will no longer get as many 'free' garbage tags (included in taxes) and have to buy them at a higher cost or maybe they will have to raise taxes as recycling costs are also included in your taxes.

I believe Council has said that they will discuss this at a later date when they have more information on costs and time frames and should be ready for the next garbage and recycle contract after this one. Maybe they will even set up a reserve fund like they do for water/sewer infrastructure to defray any initial costs on setting up a new garbage collection system.

Actually the Numbered Plastics (#3-7) that are thrown in the landfill are probably not as much of a problem as all the unnumbered plastic packaging that is dumped, as it is not recyclable.

When I left Halifax Nova Scotia in 2000, they were still paying 10 cents per recyclable drink item at the store, including tetra packs (3 per pkg=30 cents). If you wanted 5 cents back per item, you had to drive to the depot near the outskirts of Dartmouth. The government and recycler kept the other nickel. They also had no recycle bins. You had to buy opaque blue garbage bags which were more expensive than regular ones.

Mark G.J. Smith

Carleton Place