Sludge Watch ==> Pelham paper sludge - picket of Abitibi - and recycling boycott July 10th

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

A province wide boycott of recycling has been proposed.  Residents are fed 
up
with getting paper sludge mountains as defacto unregulated sludge dumps.

I don't mind saying I have been boycotting paper recycling for years.  I 
refuse to participate
in contaminating the environment with paper sludge...the wastes associated 
with this 'recycling'.
If paper mills won't be responisble with their wastes...then it would be 
irresponsible of me to aid and abet them in this contamination.

So...A boycott for the week of July 10th is planned.


...........................................................

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=93240&catname=Local+News&classif=News+%2D+Local


Residents take sludge protest to source
Picket line set up at Abitibit Consolidated

Erik White,Standard Staff
Local News - Saturday, July 01, 2006 @ 01:00

The Pelham community group opposing the dumping of waste paper sludge is 
asking all of Niagara to join their fight by keeping their full blue boxes 
in the garage for an extra week.

The group is asking residents across the region and the province to not put 
out any recycling the week of July 10, leaving collectors with large heaps 
to deal with the following two weeks.

Protesters hope this will disrupt the system enough to get politicians to 
pay attention and make people think twice about where recycled materials end 
up.

“We were doing the right thing. We were being environmentally conscious. And 
now it’s being dumped back in our neighbhourhood,” said Church Street 
resident Lynda Kis at Friday morning’s protest outside the Abitibi 
Consolidated mill in Thorold.


“I’m not comfortable putting my paper out on the curb. I think it’s more 
environmentally friendly to throw it out in a field.”

The group was formed a few weeks ago, during the construction of a large 
sound barrier on a property on Church Street near Fenwick.

It’s made of 20,000 tonnes of Sand-Sorb, a mixture of paper sludge and sand. 
The federally trademarked product is sold by Empire Agri-Services, which is 
paid by Abitibi to take away the sludge.

Residents are concerned toxins from the wall will harm the surrounding 
environment. Friday’s picket at the mill’s main entrance off Highway 58 was 
to draw attention to where the sludge originates.

“Rather than looking at profits, they should look at research and 
technology,” said Carolyn Botari, one of about a dozen protesters.

“They may say on paper they have a great concern for the environment, but 
they don’t demonstrate that through their actions.”

Abitibi spokesman Marc Macdonald said there is a lot of misinformation 
circulating about the sludge.

“You’re hearing, It may contain, it may contain.’ May contain doesn’t mean 
it does contain,” he said. “We’re very confident in the benign nature of 
this product.”

Still, Macdonald said the company and the protesters have a common goal. 
Abitibi would like to avoid the expense of paying someone to take the waste 
away and is studying other disposal options.

Niagara Region’s director of waste management services, Barry Friesen, said 
holding back recycling wouldn’t be a “wholesale disaster,” but it would 
cause the Region and its collection and sorting contractors some headaches.

He was more worried about people falling out of their recycling habits or 
tossing paper and plastic in the trash.

Friesen urged the Pelham residents to focus their efforts on the provincial 
government, which doesn’t regulate Sand-Sorb because the product is 
recognized by the federal government.

“Essentially, what this is doing is not getting at the root of the problem,” 
he said. “Instead, it’s hurting people who have nothing to do with this.”