Instead of forcing new toxic incinerators or landfills on communities that don’t want them, the Ontario government should focus on the obvious solutions right in front of us:
1. Require all Ontario businesses to recycle.
While businesses in Ontario make the majority (60%+) of the waste in our province, 30 year old regulations require less than 3% to have a recycling bin, and if they don’t, there are no consequences. That means tonnes of recyclables from factories, stores, hotels and offices are just going straight to the garbage.
2. Don’t let companies off the hook for collecting all their bad packaging in your Blue Box.
Ontario’s Blue Box is managed by the companies that make the products and packaging we recycle, but now they’re complaining about the cost. Ford wants to let them off the hook, so they don’t have to collect overflow recycling, and to take ‘flexible’ plastic packaging like pouches, bags and wrappers, out of the bin.
This means these things will instead go into our garbage, and increase costs for us and municipalities.
3. Stop wasting food - don’t let big grocers or restaurants dump food in landfills and incinerators.
Every year, big grocery stores, restaurants, and manufacturers dump millions of tonnes of edible food and organics in the garbage. Up to 40% of our province’s garbage is organics that could be composted, but the Ontario government continues to drag its feet on getting companies to divert their organic waste.
4. Don’t force landfills and incinerators on communities that don’t want them, and keep environmental rights intact.
This bill would strip away many environmental rights of Ontarians and result in more landfills and incinerators without the say of the communities where they would be built. Ford’s government has already fast-tracked the expansion of the privately owned incinerator in Brampton despite concerns raised by Peel Public Health.
*Waste data and numbers noted above drawn from the ERO postings #026-1056 and 026-1058 and related Provincial discussion documents.