Rubbish fires

Press, 13 March 1987, Page 16

Rubbish fires

Sir, —Why are some Christchurch people so dirty that they prefer to burn garden rubbish and pollute the air, which we all have to breathe? Are they too mean and selfish to pay to send their rubbish to the refuse centre or are they too poor? Perhaps the M.E.D. profits should subsidise the poor. Why do the city councillors continue to allow the atmosphere to be polluted? Are they also dirty, ignorant or just apathetic?—Yours, etc.,

A. HEATH. March 10, 1987.

Sir, —I agree with Margit Dutton regarding rubbish fires (March 10). We have members of A.S.H. and the media brainwashing us about the evils of smoking cigarettes, and yet we are forced, for months on end, to breathe in the foul stench of rubbish fires. It is time for a total ban on rubbish fires, not for a few summer months, but all year round. — Yours, etc.,

M. HEELEY. March 10, 1987.

Sir, —It is unfair of Margit Dutton (March 10) to suggest that burning rubbish is uncivilised. Is it civilised to pass all rubbish to the City Council to bury in the sandhills where they are sowing the seeds of future pollution problems or is it better to pick over our own rubbish, with the degradables going into the compost while the plastics and tins go in the fire? Ours is a household of four adults with a large garden of trees and shrubs where there is always a stockpile

of food wrappings, plastic carrying bags, cartons, leaves and tree cuttings awaiting disposal. After a short while in the flames plastic bottles and wrappers break down to harmless ash. After a little of the same heat treatment, food and drink tins lose their rust protection, corroding awaying to nothing. The compost resulting from this socalled waste has supported a flourishing garden without artificial fertilisers for 30 years. — Yours, etc., D. J. LATTIMORE. March 10, 1987.