Last week, TEA spoke up about greenwashing and false claims at City Hall, and we’re glad to say that Councillors listened.
Greenwashing of incineration in City consultation
Toronto is currently evaluating long term waste disposal options, and in June, they conducted a consultation to gauge public opinion on incineration vs landfill. We raised concerns that the City's consultation and online survey, included leading questions and false claims that portrayed incineration as a green option. Specifically, the survey preamble and public consultations made the blanket, unproven statement that incineration "reduces greenhouse gas emissions when compared to landfill”.
However, that’s just not true. The fact is, the greenhouse gas emissions change based on local conditions - such as landfill design, waste composition, and the energy grid. Our recent analysis, which uses local data from actual incineration facilities in Ontario, and up-to-date local waste numbers, shows that energy-from-waste incineration is much worse for the climate.
Guided by false information, it appears that survey takers chose environmental impacts as their top concern, and then went on to select incineration over landfilling assuming this was the greener choice.
Speaking up about false and misleading information
TEA raised these concerns at public consultations with City staff, in the media, and with our supporters. TEA spoke to the City’s September Infrastructure and Environment Committee and argued that the public survey support for incineration can't be relied on for future decision making since it was based on high level, generalized comments that can't be backed up. (See our letter here)
The good news is that Councillors heard our concerns, and agreed that this kind of generalization and misleading questions isn't appropriate for such a difficult decision on a complex issue.
Thanks to Deputy Mayor Morley for leadership on this issue, directing staff to dig into how these facts are presented, and making sure that future consultations are done only after staff confirm the facts and details. Thanks to Committee Chair Fletcher and Councillor Saxe for motions that refocus attention on reducing waste in the first place and look at best environmental practices elsewhere.
This is a great example of why we need environmental watchdogs like TEA paying attention and speaking up.
Every time incineration came up as an option at City Hall -- in 2021, 2023 and now in 2025 -- we've been there to remind councillors to ask the tough questions, and get the local up to date facts on the climate and health impacts before making the very difficult decisions.
It's slow and often unglamourous work focused on technical details and committees, but it feels great when we can cut through greenwashing!
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