We need to cut Toronto’s waste drastically by investing in waste diversion.
Why? Because far too many materials that can be recycled and composted are being thrown away.
Reducing waste will not only help the environment, it will help the economy because diversion creates 7 times more jobs than disposal.
Surprisingly, some people are still thinking about burning or combusting waste even though it’s bad for the environment, extremely expensive and creates fewer jobs.
It’s time City Hall invested wisely in waste diversion to help the environment and create jobs.
Actions Council Must Take:
- By September 2015
Adopt a long term waste strategy that includes a 90% waste diversion target by 2020 and excludes any disposal option that combusts waste.
Municipalities across Ontario and Canada are doing better at waste diversion than Toronto.
We’ve missed our current diversion target of 70% and are stuck at 53%.
It’s time Council committed to a new target of 90% by 2020.
It’s time Toronto had a plan that pushes us towards the waste free future many other cities are aiming at.
And we must avoid locking Toronto into costly long-term incineration contracts that will mean fewer resources and less funding for more effective waste diversion programs.
- By Fall 2015
Consider a city-wide policy that insures all Toronto residents and businesses have access to the same diversion services (e.g. green bin and blue bin), no matter where they live or who provides the services.
Depending on where you live, work and shop you may or may not have access to the same recycling, green bin and composting services.
Many residents still don't have good green bin service at home.
Most people don't have them at work or in public spaces.
It’s time the City took a leadership role and required all Toronto residents and businesses to divert waste.
- By February 2015
Commit to a major green bin and recycling evaluation program for multi-residential buildings to review the effectiveness of the green bin roll out and recycling education ads.
Apartment and condo residents still don’t have equal access to green bins and blue bins.
While all buildings have blue bins, recycling rates at apartments are much lower than in houses.
We need to understand the barriers.
We also need to measure the impact of the 2013 green bin roll out.
Toronto waste staff worked hard to double the number of buildings with green bins, but we don’t know if they’ve had an impact.
Summary:
- adopt new waste diversion targets and actions
- give everyone access to all diversion options