PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, J ULY 3, 1985, WHii Y t'KE EPRES wh.itby F rmmF Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor The only Whitby newspaper independeitly owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. I>ublished every Wednesday hv,%M.B.M. Puhlishing çr<and Photography me. Ilhone 068-6111l The F'ree Press Builing, Et 1 Brock Street North, 11.0. Box 206. whitby. Ont. MICHAEL KNELL Community Editor VALERIE COWEN AdvertIsIng Manager Second Class Mail Registration No 5351 r Council didn't deal with the waste problem Was Decom decision right? The duly elected members of Whitby Town Council bowed to intense public pressure last week and rejected a proposai by Decom Medical Waste Transporation Systems Inc. to build a 12,000 square foot biomedical waste transfer station on Sunray St. un the Hopkins St. Industrial park. The five councillors who turned down the ap- plication ail noted at some point in their speeches that they had been receiving a number of telephone calls demanding that they vote against the proposai. That, within itself, is alright. But what isn't alrlght ls the method in which they attacked the proposai because they missed·the fundamental issue underlying the entire affair and they have I haven't exactly been lying ln bed at night worrying about it, but I have long suspected that a one dollar Canadian coin was inevitable and I have not been overjoyed at the prospect. Anyone who has spent much time in Britain, even before they turned the one pound note into a coin will know what's worrying me. After a few days in UK, you wind up with a pocketful of metal so heavy that if you wrap- ped It up in a napkin, you could stun an elephant with it. Inflation, of course, ls the root cause of this move to take away our light-weight greenback and replace it wlth a hulking, bronze-coated nickel slug. Because of inflation, the dollar coin would be more con- venient for vending machines and public transit, or at least more convenient for the owners and operators thereof. And because coins last longer than dollar bills, which have a life expectancy of about eight months, the switch would save the government money, about $9 million annually. But there would be a psychological price to be paid for all of this. We all realize that a dollar today will only buy about a dime's worth of merchandise without having dollar bills become mere change. To be reminded physically of the degraded value of the buck every time we buy a sandwich Is going to be tough. And there's the weight to be considered. Women's purse arm will become muscled Ilke those of shot- putters. And those of us who will still keep money in our pants pockets will develop permanent lists to port or starboard, depending on which pocket we keep it in. Or perhaps I should say try to keep it in. There is going to be an enormous problem with holes. Perhaps this would be a good time to invest heavily in canvas or leather. They'll be needed in vast quantities for bigger and stronger purses and for pocket lining, to keep those jangling dollars in the pants of those who earned them. I suppose, in time, we may come to be as fond of the dollar coin as we were of nickels when they were worth something. But I doubt It. failed to deal with it. As Mayor Bob Attersley said in his speech during the debate, the Decom proposai has brought one point to bear. The current system of disposing of blomedical and pathological waste in Whitby and Durham Region isn't satisfactory. His Worship noted that most medical waste generated by local doctors' offices medical laboratories, clinics, pharmacies and hospitals is disposed of through the landfill sites and carried as ordinary, household and commercial waste. The mayor also polnted out that anatomical waste (i.e. amputated limbs, etc.) s incinerated at the Port Perry Community Hospital. However, that Incinerator Is only operational one day a week and the waste burnt there is transported ln regular trucks or vans and sometimes even in the trunk of someone's car. If nothing else, the Decom proposai has adequately demonstrated that biomedical waste is not being properly handled in this area at this time. The proposai also advocated that this waste should recelve special treatment and should be collected and disposed of separately from other waste. This point was further brought to bear by Dr. Jean Gray, the Durham Region Medical Officer of Health who expressed dissatisfaction with the current method of biomedical waste disposai. In essence, she said that the Decom method was superior to the current system and posed less of a health hazard to the general public. This newspaper can accept council's decision to reject the Decom application. If the people who Ilve in this community don't want it here, then, perhaps, it shouldn't be here. But we still haven't dealt with the problem. And there does appear to be one. Neither council nor the members of the public who spoke at the public meetings held into the application addressed themselves to this issue. Not one member of council, save and except Coun. Marcel Brunelle, asked how biomedical waste was currently belng collected and disposed of in Whitby. In fact, this issue wasn't even addressed. Council received a few letters from health care agencies who indicated that they weren't ex- periencing any problems. But, then again, what did anyone really expect them to say? Waste disposai Is becoming an ever more serlous problem. Landfill sites are becoming taxed to capacity. New methods of disposai are needed and Durham Regional Council is already looking into securing new means of dealing with this problem. It is ail well and good that the Decom proposai was rejected. But wlthout this private service, how does council intend to deal with the problem? If they don't believe private enterprise has the means to deal with it adequately, does this mean they are prepared to assume the burden, at the taxpayers' expense? Biomedical waste is present in our community. It is not being handled in an adequate manner. That much is obvious. It is also obvlous that we are not dealing with It. Three weeks ago, we advocated that an En- vironmental Assessment Hearing should have been held into this matter. We stand by that. This is too serlous an issue to leave any doubts In anyone's mind. But, on reflection, was council too hasty in its decision? It is possible that they may have rejec- ted a viable solution without examining. the problem fully and completely. lu