Letter to the Editor: Trash Talk
A while back some friends and I met at Twin Beaches to practice tai chi. We had met there occasionally previously, but on this day we were surprised by the amount of litter (like aluminum cans and food wrappers) left around some of the picnic tables and trees. We picked up what we could and recycled some of it. A fellow from Nanaimo was in our group and he remarked, “Why doesn’t the government provide garbage bins for this beautiful park?” As most of us were digesting this thought, a Gabriolan soberly pointed out, “The practice has been that when people bring their stuff to this public place, they remove it all when they leave.”
I was reminded about this episode when I read about providing “doggy dirt” bags at parks and RDN garbage cans at various locations. It goes back to convenience. Someone always pays for convenience and in some situations it promotes bad habits and provides for unseen consequences. Who would have thought that bears would actually hang around the island? We’ve had visits before, from cougars, too, but not immigrants. I believe Gabriolans rate well above average in their handling of trash and deal with it directly, seeing to it that the right stuff goes in the right place and not just dumped in a bin that may not be emptied in a timely fashion, if at all. Public garbage bins are convenience/nuisance items that people should think hard about before instituting or not.
~ Louie Strano