[GreenYes Archives] -
[Thread Index] -
[Date Index]
[Date Prev] - [Date Next] - [Thread Prev] - [Thread Next]
Hello all, This article's lead points to Ontario's failure to deliver when it comes to recycling cans (and e-waste). Ironically, American opponents of deposits have recently been pointing to "the Ontario model" as an alternative method of achieving producer responsibility. Basically, they have a cost-sharing system where beverage companies kick in 50% of the cost of municipal curbside recycling. The cost sharing may work, but as this article attests, it's not achieving decent UBC recycling rates. Clearly, producer responsibility initiatives must have measureable performance goals and enforcement provisions for failure to meet those goals. --Jenny Province failing to monitor projects for environmental safety: report Canadian Press October 21, 2004 TORONTO -- Ontario landfills are brimming with one billion aluminum pop cans and mounds of discarded cell phones, computers and televisions, the province's environmental watchdog said Thursday as he pushed for an aggressive plan to deal with the problem. Gord Miller's fifth annual report also accused the province of allowing thousands of development projects to escape environmental scrutiny and noted that 40 per cent of Ontario cities have no bylaws forbidding toxic material from entering the sewer system. However, critics were quick to complain about what was absent from the 208-page report -- namely any mention of chronic pollution from Ontario's coal-fired power plants or conservation efforts for the Great Lakes amidst a draft plan to divert water to the United States. "I think this was a softball report, quite frankly," said Dan McDermott of the Sierra Club. "It was not tough on a number of issues that needed to be tough. (Miller) danced all around the issue of mercury from Ontario Power Generation . . .and its role in terms of toxicity in the environment and human health." McDermott also said the idea that there is excess water to be drained away from the Great Lakes is a "fiction." Miller called Ontario's record for recycling aluminum cans "abysmally bad," noting that only 42 per cent of cans were collected in 2002 through the province's blue box program. In contrast, most Canadian jursidictions with a deposit-refund system regularly capture 65 to 85 per cent of cans, he said. In 2002, the Brewers of Ontario reported that more than 91 per cent of the beer cans and 98 per cent of beer bottles sold through its Beer Store outlets were returned for deposit. Deposit fees are typically five cents per can but that a 10-cent deposit would be more effective, McDermott said. The report also found that large quantities of toxic substances still flow through Ontario sewage treatment plans and into rivers and lakes. "Ontario seems to have lost sight of how important it is to control what goes into sewers in terms of overall sewage treatment," Miller said. "The best way to keep those toxins out of the environment is to keep them out of the sewers." McDermott said municipalities should be charged for their discharges. "Putting toxins into our sewer system, into our water, is not acceptable," he said. New Democrat environment critic Marilyn Churley said she was disappointed the report did not address the controversial Great Lakes water-taking proposal nor mercury emissions from the province's coal plants. She also worried about the province's failure to scrutinize any projects that affect the environment. The report found that the ministry is neither monitoring nor enforcing environmental conditions because of exemptions made under the Environmental Bill of Rights that were meant to eliminate duplications. "In practice, however, the exemptions mean that some environmental approvals and permits are getting no public scrutiny at all," Miller said, noting that research suggests there are probably thousands of permits and approvals that go unmonitored. "I don't believe the framers of the law intended such an outcome and I don't believe it is a good policy to shroud environmentally significant decisions from public scrutiny." He said the expansion of Highway 69 in the Muskoka region flooded private land and killed mature trees and was not monitored to see if it met conditions to lessen the environmental impact. © The Canadian Press 2004 --Jenny Jennifer Gitlitz Research Director, Container Recycling Institute Home Office: 2 Pomeroy Ave. Dalton, MA 01226 Tel. (413) 684-4746 Mobile: (413) 822-0115 Fax: (413) 403-0233 Email: jgitlitz@no.address Container Recycling Institute headquarters: 1911 N. Ft. Myer Dr. #702 Arlington, VA 22209-1603 Tel. (703) 276-9800 Fax: (703) 276-9587 www.container-recycling.org www.bottlebill.org |
[GreenYes Archives] -
[Date Index] -
[Thread Index]
[Date Prev] - [Date Next] - [Thread Prev] - [Thread Next]