There is a problem with litter. All over Newmarket. All of it distributed/ produced by the same corporation.
And in addition to the litter, this company also contributes hundreds of tons of garbage each and every week but pays none of the disposal costs.
As we are in a new age of sustainable development, impunity must turn to responsibility. Polluters must pay.
Who is this polluter?
The Newmarket Era newspaper and its parent corporation, York Region Media Group.
Survey the contents of any residential blue box and you will find that trash produced/ distributed by local newspaper is prominent among the materials inside. Yet the disposal cost is paid for by property taxpayers and not the producer of this material.
Walk down any street in Newmarket and you will find litter that originated from papers produced/ distributed by the Era. The clean up costs are not assessed against the company responsible for all of this litter.
Waste disposal is one of the largest line items in the Town of Newmarket's operating budget. Waste disposal costs are among the reasons why our taxes are the second highest in York Region.
Taxpayers shouldn't be burdened with costs of cleaning up the pollution created by the Newmarket Era. The polluter must pay. We need the Town to assess and levy the appropriate costs back to the York Region Media Group corporation that has been milking taxpayers for far too long.
If Newmarket Council truly cares for the environment, then why does it give each year hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars to the Era for advertising? Shouldn't Newmarket's advertising be free-of-charge given how much the Era's pollution is already costing us?
If you are like me and wish to end this fiasco, then you can make a difference. Contact the Era and tell them that you no longer want this paper delivered to your home.
You can contact the Era to cancel your delivery at:
580B Steven Court
Newmarket, ON
L3Y4X1
Phone: (905) 773-7627
Or email the editor at: tkibble@yrmg.com
I have been fighting this battle for three years now and have only intermittently received the Era Banner for the last two years. I was unsuccessful in getting the paper stopped until I joined the recycling council of Canada and had them enter my complaint at an official meeting to consider an award to the Era Banner for reduction of waste in their plant. In my letter I explained that to effectively measure the waste created by the plant they would need to include the waste from production of the paper, the ink, the emissions from the vehicles used for delivery, the emissions from the recycling truck and the recycling of the paper itself. In effect measuring the reduction in the plant was miniscule compared to the overall carbon footprint created by this paper. Most recently I began having the paper tossed onto my front lawn by someone who was apparently filling in for the regular delivery person and apparently did not consult the do not deliver list. I sent an email advising that since I did not subscribe to the paper having it thrown on my lawn or driveway was a violation of Newmarket bylaw which prohibits dumping garbage on private property. I advised the circulation manager that in future every time I received a paper I would reciprocate by leaving a bag of garbage at the front door of the Era Banners Newmarket office for them to dispose of. Delivery has once again stopped. I also don't want them to go out of business. However they should put boxes on every street so that those who want a paper can get one and any not taken can be recycled by the paper. What other business model would be based on driving through a neighborhood tossing unwanted product onto someone's property. I believe that Newmarket by allowing this practice is part of the problem. If enough residents ask bylaw enforcement to enforce the garbage bylaws we may have a chance of getting this annoying practice stopped. Since I have been on the do not deliver list I only need to put my blue box out every second week. If we could get junk mail delivery stopped as well I would only need once a month blue box service and we could save some taxes.
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