"page 14, May 3, 1978 - North Shore News A Wawa At A Waw WA By RICHARD C CHARLES Scene 1: There it sits on the breakfast table or under the tree oz in the hands of the. presenter at the retirement party. It’s beautiful — that acre of brightly coloured _ paper and those tricky bows —— of ribbon; and inside there’s usually a box, and inside the box there’s probably scads of tissue paper, and inside that perhaps a plastic bag — and there at last, like the mysterious idol in the inner sanctum of the temple, sits the gift itself. ‘‘Oh,”’ she (he) © cries, ‘‘you shouldn’t have!”’ Scene II (a little later): There it sits, probably screwed up into a handy ball now — the bright wrapper, the ribbon, the tissue, the plastic bag, with the flatten- ed box inside it —— already forgotten in the garbage can. But who’s saying ‘‘Oh, you shouldn’t have!’’ now? It’s a shame to spoil the patty by talking about waste. But does it reaiiy spoli the party? Or have we. been | oversold on the need to impress cach other with all the tinsel, when what counts is the gift inside and the affection that it represents? unwrapped gifts behind our backs until the last second, or telling auntie to look under the chesterfield for a‘ sur- prise. But surely we could do a bit less wrapping without making life unbearably dull; and then make sure that the wrapping, after its brief but merry life, doesn’t go into the municipal. incinerator. . Of course, we're up against some pretty strong forces. This is the age of super-packaging. It’s not easy to buy anything, even small items like make-up or razor blades, without bring- - ing home (and paying for) some eye-catching display card or mount or container “that we usually have no ‘Maybe we don’t want to go so far as trying to hold eariniy use for. Prepared ‘foods and. houschoid ‘pro- . ducts are particularly strik- ing examples of packaging | gone: wild, because they’re § _ compéting with one another 54 on supermarket shelves. And . we all know where the fancy. package ends up. = Does it really matter? - Unfortunately it does, be- cause this is how we throw away money, resources and energy — none of which we can afford to lose — on essentially trivial purposes. The money and resources are obvious, but the energy waste is something we don’t: see: it’s the energy used in ' producing and transporting the paper and plastic and wood and metal and glass that are quickly discarded and disappear with a crunch into the jaws of the garbage truck. And _ speaking of garbage trucks, they. run on WINDSHIELD REPLACEMENT | fast sorvice with a smite. _ SPRING SPECIAL © guarantee our work. 00 mirrors & mirrorwalls Insurance replacements ‘Westside wtute 296 PEMBERTON AVE. NORTH VAN 985-5441 Westside 1360 MARINE DRIVE, Bring this ad and save (Volkswagen Beetle $12. 50 Only) . on your deductible Offer good till May 31st/78 thermo panes & stormwindows window & plate glass table tops Mi te. Glass MEtd. WEST VANCOUVER 922-4220 SERVING THE NORTH SHORE SINCE 1963 energy too, ‘and so. do. the . _ations that the trucks: feed.” ’ set: aside. the materials, like : , dl i landfill and incinerator. oper- ee This isn’t peanuts. ‘More than one-third of the garbage coming ‘from. Canadian homes is packaging: material, and it's ‘getting WORSE, | One thing. we can do to . slow. thepace of destruction is. to buy things ‘that. come. without a lot - of. built-in. garbage. | We can “shop: at . places ‘where they — pack .goods. in simpie bags. or reusable containers. We can paper and glass, that can be - recycled. We can put . pres- sure on local authorities to have’ these materials collect-. ed separately,.if they are not doing so already. And we can _keep a.closer -watch on our own. wrapping | habits. ‘There are so many ways ‘to - fight back, and the best way to start is by reading Tie garbage ‘heok, obtainable from Box 3500, Station C, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y 4G1. it’s full of good, down-to-. earth ideas from the Office of Energy Conservation. Scene Hil: There it sits — and the next move is ours. _ PERMANENT on TEMPORARY | CALL . SB A £425 a 25 e ‘ites GINCE ASSISTANCE [CANADA] LTD. | | . #201, 1139 Lonsdale ‘North Van eee “KEY . PERSONNEL 5 x 7 color portrait - plus color portrait in sold color or _ silver color charm _— SALE both for only.99 + A terrific F Choose your favotens one Day ar colorful new backgrounds! And of course, our traditional setting is also available. Selection of poses from finished portraits. Limit of one special per person - 2 per familly every 3 months. Additional persons in Portrait 99¢ each. Children, adults and families welcome. offer ends May13,1978, EATON’S © . PortraitStadio Pacific Contre, Park Royal and Lansdowno: Mon., Tuos., Wed., Sat. 9:30 am - 5:00 pm Thurs. and Fri, 9:30 am - 8:30 pm Lansdowne also open Wod. nighta'tll 8:30 pm 30 minute passport sorvice also available.