Sludge Watch ==> Ontario gov't hasn't made a dent in garbage piles - despite promises

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The only thing I 've seen this government do to manage waste is to rename 
the waste sludge 'exempt waste sludge'.  That linguistic move allowed 
wastehaulers to buy farms and bring thousands of truckloads of putrescing 
industrial sludge into huge mountains to the shock and dismay of the 
neighbours, the town, the county, and the Ontario Environmental 
Commissioners.

This government also started to allow companies waste exemption as 
'fertilizer' even when the 'fertilzer' was illegal and unregulated 
federally.

So now not only are Ontario landfills overflowing with toxic waste, more and 
more farmfields are open air unregulated landfills.  The Province of Ontario 
pulled together a panel of expert physicians and scientists and ignored 
every word they said.

Here is the Ontario Association of Local Public Health Agencies' position on 
paper sludge and the need for comprehensive waste management regulations:

http://www.alphaweb.org/land_use1.asp


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"The Ontario Government - despite election promises to divert 60% of garbage 
through the 3R's (reduce, reuse and recycle) and composting - hasn't made a 
dent in garbage piles."

It hasn't even come up with a plan on how it can be done".


http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/206093

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Province lags badly in trash reduction
TheStar.com - News - Province lags badly in trash reduction

Environment commissioner says missed targets hurt Ontario's credibility in 
future plans to boost 3Rs

April 23, 2007
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau

Millions of tonnes of Greater Toronto Area garbage piled on trucks bound for 
landfills is one of the most visible signs of the over-consumption that 
contributes to global warming.

The Ontario government – despite election promises to divert 60 per cent of 
garbage through the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and composting – 
hasn't made a dent in garbage piles.

It hasn't even come up with a plan on how it could be done.

Ontarians recycle and compost just 25 per cent of all their garbage, 
according to government statistics.

If you ignore commercial waste and look only at residential figures, the 
rate goes up to 32 per cent – still nowhere near the 60 per cent target the 
Liberals set for 2008.

The price of failure isn't just an environmental one, warns Gord Miller, 
Ontario's Environmental Commissioner.

"A real price with missing the 60 per cent is that we missed the 50 per cent 
target in 2000 as well. It undermines the credibility of everybody involved. 
What are we going to say now? We'll do 80 per cent in 2012?" Miller said.

"How is the public supposed to take us seriously? We're sending a message to 
the public that when we say things we don't mean them."

Environment Minister Laurel Broten said the province is paying attention 
now.

"Reduce needs to be brought back into the mix. It's the first of the three 
R's and it's the one that we don't always put front and centre," Broten 
said.

To that end, she said she's working with other environment ministers across 
the country to reduce packaging.

"Packaging makes up a huge portion of our waste stream and frankly, is an 
issue that Ontarians speak to me about on a personal basis."

While going after packaging may be a popular move, it largely falls under 
federal jurisdiction and some critics have questioned why Broten doesn't 
spend her time fixing all the problems that are under her direct control.

So far, the only major improvements in recycling numbers have come from 
municipalities that have forged ahead of the province and adopted green bin 
organics programs.

To be successful, over the long run, there needs to be strong markets for 
the finished compost. That can't happen without province-wide standards for 
what can be in the compost and the techniques used to produce it, Miller 
said.

During the last election the Liberals promised to phase in a ban on organic 
waste from landfills saying: "Organic waste is a resource, not garbage."

Three-and-a-half years after the election, they still haven't done it.

The province, for the first time in many years, is open to municipalities 
pursuing energy from-waste incineration as a replacement for landfills. 
While many applaud that move, including Miller, the province must develop 
strict bans for what can't be burnt so incineration doesn't kill recycling 
efforts, he said.

The province must also get serious about forcing businesses to recycle, he 
said.

Right now, most residents in the Greater Toronto area dutifully separate 
their organic kitchen waste from the rest of their trash. But provincial 
regulations don't require restaurants to do the same thing.

Provincial regulations say that the construction and demolition industry 
must recycle materials, like wood, steel and concrete. Yet the province's 
own statistics show the diversion rate for this sector is just 8 per cent.

The province did an inspection blitz last year of 260 businesses, including 
restaurants, hotels, office buildings and construction sites. It discovered 
93 per cent were not complying with provincial recycling regulations.

Broten has used the blitz as a talking point in speeches to show she's doing 
something, but industry insiders admit they have little incentive to improve 
those numbers until the province forces them to or the tipping fees at 
landfills become so high that it's cheaper to recycle.

Right now, municipalities are struggling to find better answers to handling 
their waste, and residents want action and are open to new ideas, Miller 
said.

"The stumbling block is the lack of a proper provincial policy framework," 
Miller said.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario is a little more hopeful the 
province is starting to take the necessary steps towards a waste strategy.

"We're so far behind everyone else we've got a long way to go, but I think 
we can do it," said Pat Vanini, executive director of the association, which 
represents most Ontario municipalities.

So far, the province has sped up and eased the way for small pilot 
energy-from-waste incinerator projects and introduced a bottle-deposit for 
wine and liquor bottles.

There's sure to be more to come in the lead up to the October provincial 
election.

"It will be interesting to see how all this starts to evolve in the various 
platforms for the provincial election," Vanini said.