Becca Amendola wants to encourage people to do what they can to help the environment.

So when the new Petrolia resident noticed a garbage can overflowing with paper in the Petrolia post office, she became concerned. When Amendola found out the paper was simply being thrown out, she began a quest to make sure the unwanted items made it to a recycling bin somewhere.

Amendola told The Independent she was “persistently complaining” for weeks about the papers being thrown out only to be told Canada Post is not required to recycle. Officials at the district office also told her they would not put a recycling bin in the foyer by the mailboxes because it wants to encourage people to take the flyers of their customers home to read. Placing a recycling box there would allow them to simply drop them without looking at them.

“I called up the local MP (Sarnia-Lambton MP Pat Davison) because this is actually a national issue – not a single Canada Post outlet has to recycle,” she says.

The MPs office placed a call to an official at Canada Post who called Amendola and listened to her concerns.

By Monday, the garbage can in the foyer was gone. “I’m glad,” says Amendola adding she was willing to set up a volunteer group to go in at the end of each business day to sort the contents of the garbage so the paper could be recycled.

On Monday, there was a growing pile of paper on the table in the foyer, Amendola says that’s unfortunate, but there is a solution.

“Very few people seem to understand their options and what is happening with that paper,” she says, noting people can ask the postal employees to stop putting the ad mail in their boxes.

“They have the option to opt out…it is environmentally responsible thing they can do if they don’t read them…(and) make sure if they do read them, take them home and recycle them.”