Toronto Environmental Alliance

On April 3, Council will consider a staff report about the future of waste management in Toronto, and it looks like the focus will be on waste disposal, not waste diversion.

We need your help to convince City Councillors to invest more of our waste fees into support and education for residents, businesses and organizations that want to divert waste.


Fill out the form below to share your story.

TEA has long supported growing the Greenbelt into Toronto, and now we're one step closer! On January 10th, the Provincial Government announced plans to grow Ontario's Greenbelt, in part by allowing cities like Toronto to add publicly-owned urban river valleys to the Greenbelt. Being part of Ontario's world-reknowned Greenbelt will ensure permanent provincial protection of these natural treasures.
	Greenbelt designation will protect Toronto's Don River valley. (Photo courtesy of City of Toronto)

Protecting our river valleys would give Toronto a ribbon of green from the Greenbelt to Lake Ontario and contribute to providing cleaner water flowing into Lake Ontario.

Toronto City Council already voted to support expanding the Greenbelt into the Don and Humber river valleys in February 2010, and urged the Province to move ahead with it in May 2011.

Thanks to the TEA members and supporters who wrote letters and submitted comments to the Province in December 2012 in support of growing the Greenbelt!

More information:

• Provincial announcement - January 10, 2013
• Ministry of Municipal Affairs & Housing: Greenbelt expansion

November 16, 2012
Lisa Rainford

Following a march from the GE-Hitachi uranium plant at Lansdowne Avenue and Dupont Street, a capacity crowd of protesters filled the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre sanctuary for what organizers are calling the first of many meetings to come about the nuclear facility.

Decked out in costume, the “Raging Grannies,” a group of older women who use song to protest and raise awareness of environmental and social justice issues, kicked off the Nov. 15 meeting that brought out local politicians from all levels of government, as well as several guest experts.

“If you love your neighbourhood, no uranium... Kick GE out for good, no uranium,” sang the trio to rousing applause.

Facilitated by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance’s Angela Bischoff, the meeting brought together a host of speakers, including Roy Brady, from SAGE, Safe and Green Energy Peterborough and Council of Canadians, who spoke about public consultations to hold GE Nuclear to account; Kyra Bell-Pasht from CELA, the Canadian Environmental Law Association and Heather Marshall, a toxics campaigner from TEA, the Toronto Environmental Alliance.

Area politicians revealed they were shocked that a nuclear processing plant has been in their midsts for more than five decades.

“Like many of you in our community, I was really surprised, shocked. I didn’t know GE was here,” Davenport MP Andrew Cash admitted to the crowd of about 100. “When you find out after 50 years you’ve been living next to a nuclear facility – something went wrong with the process. Clearly, the public information program failed. What I’m going to be doing is calling the CNSC (Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission) and the Minister (of Environment) to a meeting that never happened during the review of (GE-Hitachi’s) license.”

Cash said he has requested that GE provide tours of its facility to community members.

“Residents need to know what’s going on inside those walls,” he said.

Davenport MPP Jonah Schein echoed his colleague’s sentiments, saying he only learned of the uranium processing plant through media reports.

“Before the recent press coverage, how many of you knew about this site? Raise your hand,” Schein asked the audience.

The vast majority had no idea that the company manufactured uranium.

“This is a major concern. This is a changing community. Its history is industrial, but more and more people are moving in. People expect to be a part of the conversation,” he said. “We’re happy this conversation is happening now, but it should have happened sooner.”

Parkdale-High Park MPP Cheri DiNovo said she has been fielding calls from her constituents as well.

“I, like others, didn’t know. I’m appalled this facility exists,” said DiNovo. “No level of radiation is safe. Have a rousing meeting and shut it down.”

Davenport Councillor Cesar Palacio called on GE and federal agencies for “a level of transparency.”

“They need to engage the community with factual information,” he said.

Trent University student and Davenport native Zach Ruiter, who took on GE’s sister plant in Peterborough, was the first to raise awareness of the Davenport-area plant. “Keeping people in the dark is a pattern for GE,” he said.

SAGE’s Brady, who came in from Peterborough for the meeting, encouraged the Davenport community to band together to put pressure on the corporation to shut it down.
“They don’t care about the effects on residents because the effects don’t come to light for years and years,” he said, calling on everyone to pressure the city and the province. “Go, find out what GE has not told you. It’ll be amazing what you find out. Keep politicians on the case. Don’t give up. Safety is not short term. Safety is forever.”

TEA’s Marshall commended everyone for attending Thursday’s meeting. In 2008, city council voted for a precedent-setting toxics disclosure policy, the community’s right-to-know bylaw. Toronto became the first city that would require businesses – from dry cleaners to funeral homes and auto-body repair shops – to reveal their discharges of 25 priority chemicals, said Marshall. The problem is, uranium is not on this list, she said. However, there is an opportunity for Toronto Public Health to conduct studies.

“Ask Toronto Public Health for help. It’s worth a try,” she said.

Throughout the meeting, organizers collected written questions from the community. Because of time restraints, the questions could not be addressed that night, however, organizer Dawn Withers stressed that Thursday’s meeting was only the start of the dialogue surrounding GE. “We will stay in contact with you,” she assured.

GE-Hitachi officials opened the doors to the media for a tour of the processing plant earlier this week.

“Frankly, nothing has gone wrong in 50 years,” said spokesperson Christopher White during the tour of the manufacturing plant. “This is a very safe facility.”

He added GE-Hitachi produces 25 per cent of Ontario’s electricity.

As originally published here: http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/1315304-large-crowd-calls-for-closure-of-uranium-plant/

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Leaping to 80: A Plan for City Hall to Help Torontonians Divert More Waste

November 2012  

Executive Summary

In 2000, City Council set a residential waste diversion target of 100% by 2010. In 2007, the target was revised to 70% by 2010. As we approach 2013, the city is stalled at a disappointing 50%.

The good news is that Torontonians love diverting waste. When given the right tools — like green bins and blue bins — they actively participate in sorting products and doing their part to make sure as little waste as possible goes to landfill.

The bad news is that not everyone has the tools to divert waste from landfill. Roughly half of Toronto residents live in multi-residential buildings, and very few of them have access to blue bins and green bins at home.

The news is even worse outside the home: few schools and shopping malls have blue bin and green bin services. At the workplace (including offices, manufacturing, and construction) most waste ends up going straight to landfill. That’s why the provincial waste diversion rate for the industrial, commercial and institutional sector (IC&I) is a shameful 13%.

This report explains why waste diversion is the best environmental, economic, and financial approach to dealing with our garbage. It notes that waste diversion creates 7 jobs for every 1,000 tonnes of waste diverted in Ontario, versus 1 job for the same amount of waste disposed (in landfill or incinerator). It shows how waste diversion avoids the significant environmental and financial problems associated with landfills and incinerators. The report also provides an overview of how Toronto’s residential waste diversion system works and is funded. 

Most importantly, the report identifies key actions the City can take to help Torontonians divert more waste:

• · Get Green Bins into all multi-residential buildings by the end of 2013.
• · Build the facilities needed to divert Toronto's waste.
• · Target commercial and non-residential waste diversion.
• · Support diversion with strong policy at the City and Provincial level.

Combined, these actions will improve Toronto’s residential waste diversion rate beyond 70%, to over 80%. With new tools to help Torontonians divert waste outside the home at businesses, work and school, Toronto’s diversion of waste from landfill will be even better. These actions will also create an additional 1,800 green jobs, mostly in Toronto.

Financially, these actions will require new investments in waste diversion programs, education, and infrastructure. Annualized, new capital costs will be in the range of $15 million per year. New operating costs will be around $6.8 million per year. However, the environmental benefit, green jobs benefit, and long-term cost savings on disposal offset these costs. In addition, as provincial waste policy progresses, money will be saved by reducing the public subsidy to companies whose products end up in the municipal waste, by having them pay their way.

In short, this report explains why and how City Hall should help Torontonians continue their love affair with waste diversion.

 

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Download the full report here:

Leaping to 80: A Plan for City Hall to Help Torontonians Divert More Waste

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There is a lot of greening to do in Toronto's institutional, commercial and industrial sectors, but some companies have already committed to pollution prevention and are strong supporters of the ChemTRAC program.

Here are a number of great statements we've collected from local businesses that not only support the Environmental Reporting and Disclosure by-law in Toronto and the ChemTRAC reporting program, they've already taken steps to improve their business practices for the sake of our health, the environment and their bottom line!

Calstone Inc.
"Calstone has been a supporter of the ChemTRAC program and Toronto's toxic emissions reduction program from the very beginning. We always have been open about the chemicals we use in our manufacturing facility as we at Calstone believe that it is our duty as manufacturers to minimize the chemical output of our plant. We were using trichloroethylene in our Vapour Degreaser but have switched to a more environmentally friendly soap based solvent, TechKleen NPB. Techkleen NPB has a much lower atmospheric lifetime than other harmful chemicals and almost zero global warming potential. Calstone will be switching to a water base paint in the near future to further rid the plant of harmful toxins. Calstone congratulates the City of Toronto on the first year of their program and encourages other manufacturers to learn about the chemicals used in their production and work with ChemTRAC to reduce or eliminate them".
- Jim Ecclestone, President and Owner of Calstone, a family owned furniture manufacturer in Scarborough.

Steam Whistle Breweries
“Steam Whistle is proud to be able to report Zero Emissions through
the City of Toronto’s ChemTRAC program. We have always been an
environmentally-minded organization but this new disclosure by-law which
we voluntarily participate in, encouraged us to go beyond some of our
larger green initiatives on water & energy consumption and waste
creation, to examine every kind of cleaning agent we were using. We
abandoned some brewing industry solvents and went back to shining tanks
with vinegar and we removed all phosphates from our bottle washing
process. These actions have had a positive impact on the cleanliness of
the waste water exiting our operations.  Whether businesses/industry
fall in the ‘Required to Report’ or ‘Voluntary’ category, participation
in the ChemTRAC program provides an opportunity to clean up operations
and be environmental leaders.”
- Greg Taylor, Co-founder of Steam Whistle Brewing

Thistle Printing Ltd.
“As an environmental and health & safety proactive company, Thistle Printing constantly endeavours to reduce impacts to both our working environment and the natural environment. To this end we have actively participated in the Toronto Region Sustainability Program. Thistle Printing has twice conducted a 3rd party multi media Pollution Prevention (P2) Assessment in recent years and successfully followed the recommendations. At a minimum our policy is to maintain compliance with all applicable regulations and bylaws. As with Toronto’s Sewer Bylaw Chapter 681, requiring a P2 Plan for specified subject pollutants, ChemTRAC allows us to be aware of key toxic substances. These can then be assessed as to applicability in our workplace and target reduction or elimination if they exist. Not only has this process helped our environmental and community goals it has reduced waste and costs.”
- Bryan Hockaday, V.P & General Manager of Thistle Printing Limited

Eco Cleaners
“ChemTRAC not only empowers consumers to make safer, healthier choices but it also encourages businesses to do better. As a business that offers toxic free dry cleaning, being green is not only the right decision, it’s the logical business decision. As consumer awareness grows of the impact of the goods and services they buy on the environment and their health, being green is no longer a lifestyle choice but has become a choice for life. As a consumer and resident of this great city, I am proud of our city for giving me the choice and knowledge to make healthier, greener decisions for me and my family.”
- Tim Yoo, Eco Cleaners

C.J. Graphics Inc.
"C.J. Graphics Inc. Group of Companies has been, and will continue to be, an avid supporter of the Toronto ChemTRAC initiative... We have drastically reduced our dependence on toxic chemicals and have replaced them with ecologically sound alternatives. We are consistently below the parameters required for any of the monitored substances."
- Jay Mandarino, President, G.J. Graphic Inc. Printers and Lithographers
Read more of their statement, submitted to the Board of Health in support of the ChemTRAC program (May 29, 2012).

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Back in 2008, when the Environmental Reporting and Disclosure by-law was passed by City Council, a number of businesses, labour groups, health associations and environmental organizations provided statements to show their support. Read the Community Right to Know by-law support statements from 2008.

 

On March 21st 2012, City Council will vote on how long people in Scarborough will remain stuck on a bus. The choice couldn’t be simpler: a Light Rapid Transit line that is fully funded and can be finished in 4 years, or the promise of subways without a plan, without any money, which will guarantee that people will be stuck on crowded buses for decades to come. 

To help Torontonians learn more about what’s at stake, click the image below and send our flyer to everyone you know who cares about getting fast, rapid transit built now.

 

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On February 8th 2012, Council voted YES to rapid transit for Toronto!

The morning started with nearly 24,000 petitions and letters from Torontonians asking for efficient, reliable rapid transit to be built now.

TTCriders members and TEA canvassers and volunteers collected thousands of letters and petitions over the last year - and our hard work paid off!

The Council vote was a great example of councillors from all over the city considering their residents, and voting for effective transit that will keep our air clean!

Read more on the TTCriders website.

Read the Council decision here: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2012.CC17.1

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On Wednesday February 8th, Council voted on Toronto's transit future at a special Council meeting. TTC Chair Karen Stintz  moved the Metrolinx LRT transit expansion plan to be voted on by Council.

Councillor Stintz’s LRT plan will deliver the rapid transit Torontonians want. 

This plan is based on solid transit principles, will see rapid transit built quickly, underground where it is needed, to all parts of the city, and it’s completely paid for by the Province. 

Councillor Stintz’s plan calls for four Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines to be built: the Eglinton Crosstown (underground from Keele St to Laird Ave and at grade from Leslie Street to Kennedy Station); replacing the current Scarborough RT with LRT and expanding it north to Sheppard Ave; along Sheppard Ave East from Don Mills Station to Morningside Ave; along Finch Ave west from the new Finch West Station to Humber College.

These new LRT lines will have almost no impact on existing car lanes as there is enough space to build new lanes on these wide suburban avenues.

TTCriders launched an e-petition that allows Torontonians to send an email to their Councillor showing their support for the plan.

• Click here to see the letter signed by 24 Councilliors calling for a special City Council meeting to approve the LRT Plan.
• Click here to see TTC Chair Stintz’s Letter to Metrolinx in support the original  LRT plan.

Read the TTCriders' February 6th press release calling on Councillors to support Stintz's plan.

Read more about the value of the LRT plan vs the unfunded subway plan here.

On July 14th, 2011, City Councillors voted almost unanimously to continue buying local food for city-run daycares and seniors’ homes.

Two weeks ago, some Councillors publicly stated they thought City Hall shouldn’t be supporting local farmers and the city’s food services industry that supply local food. 

In response, over 1,700 Torontonians signed a petition asking Councillors to support the city’s local food procurement policy. As well, nine key players in the food services industry sent a letter to Councillors asking them to support the city’s continued support for local food procurement. 

Because of the decision today, local farmers will have a better chance to supply fresh and nutritious foods to users of city daycares and seniors’ homes. As well, by buying more local food, the city will reduce smog and greenhouse gas emissions as less food comes from far away.

Finally, thanks to all of you for contacting your local Councillor and helping ensure City Hall keeps the welcome mat for local food!

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• Read TEA's press release - City Poised to Kill Support for Local Food - June 28, 2011
• Read the letter from the local food industry here - Prominent Food Industry Players Urge City Council: ‘Don’t Kill Support for Local Food’ - July 12, 2011
  
• See the petition signed by more than 1600 Torontonians

 

*UPDATE!* On Thursday July 14th, Council voted for Local Food, again!

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On Tuesday June 28th 2011, Toronto's Government Management Committee refused to adopt a policy that would direct city staff to buy local food, where appropriate, instead of imported food that may come from thousands of miles away.

The policy will go to City Council on July 12 & 13 for debate and a vote. For more information read TEA's press release: City Poised to Kill Support for Local Food

Please sign this petition to tell City Council that Toronto needs to support local food, local farmers and the environment by adopting a policy to buy local food.

More Information:

Read TEA's press release: City Poised to Kill Support for Local Food - June 28, 2011

To read more about what TEA has done in the past to push for a Local Food policy at City Hall, see our campaign page here: Local & Sustainable Food Procurement

 

Jamie Kirkpatrick, TEA's Transit Campaigner, speaks before the Toronto Transit Commission about a preliminary budget for 2012 that looks to cut over $100 million in operating costs.

Read more about TEA's Transit Campaign here.