Waste

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=56 BGCOLOR="#666633" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="00fc8c83.jpg"> <div> Waste Management</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#666633" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Did you know you have to take your receipt OUT of your plastic shopping bags so they can be recycled?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Do you know an individual, group or school who has been involved in environmental activities for many years and who merit recognition? The Clean World Award was established in 1992 by PITCH-IN CANADA. To find out more about criteria for the award, visit: </B><A HREF="http://www.pitch-in.ca" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.pitch-in.ca"><U><B>www.pitch-in.ca</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=424 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>If it can't be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production.</B></div> <div> <B>Pete Seeger</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="make_no_mistake_what_we_do_to_our"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Make no mistake, what </B><B>we do to our environment we do to ourselves</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>What you people call your natural resources, our people call our relatives.</B></div> <div> <B>Oren Lyons, Onondaga elder</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0846f8a0.gif" border=0 width="111" height="138" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>New waste management strategy announced</B><B> <A NAME="announced"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> Press release from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment</div> <div> April 5, 2004</div> <bR> <div> IN KEEPING its commitment to clean, liveable communities, the McGuinty government has  announced a strategy to better manage Ontario's waste and reduce the province's reliance on landfills. </div> <bR> <div> The government's strategy is a focus on achieving 60 per cent waste diversion.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>Discussion Paper on 60% Waste Diversion</B></div> <bR> <div> There is a waste management challenge in Ontario today.  The continued export of Ontario waste, particularly from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), to the United States is cause for concern.  GTA municipalities have not been able to develop a sustainable, Ontario-based, long-term waste management solution.  </div> <bR> <div> Increasing the diversion of non-hazardous waste from disposal will help to meet this challenge and achieve the government's commitment to clean, liveable communities with the key result of reducing the rate of green space lost.</div> <bR> <div> To achieve this goal, the government will release a discussion paper on options for achieving 60 per cent waste diversion from disposal and how they might be implemented in an economic and practical manner.  The paper will include the following for discussion:</div> <bR> <div> Setting province-wide diversion objectives</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Setting diversion targets for residential waste that could be achieved through improvements to municipal blue box programs and increased composting </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Accelerating and expanding centralized composting in Ontario's largest municipalities</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Developing a financing strategy for centralized composting, including cost recovery mechanisms, municipal revenue generation, public-private partnerships, shared infrastructure agreements, and provincial assistance in the form of grants or loans</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Feasibility of phasing in a ban on organics and other recyclable materials in Ontario landfills</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Introducing new options for source separation for the industrial, commercial and institutional (IC&I) sectors</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Considering new and emerging waste management technologies</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Promoting packaging reduction and the increase of recycled content in paper and packaging</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Undertaking public education and awareness activities to promote 3 Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Initiating province-wide tracking of waste going to landfill or export</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Improvement to the Environmental Assessment Process</B></div> <bR> <div> As the government moves forward to increase waste diversion, actions need to be taken to improve the environmental assessment process to support its waste management objectives.</div> <bR> <div> The Ministry of the Environment will set up an advisory panel of expert practitioners to develop proposals on possible approaches to improving the environmental assessment process for waste management facilities, transit and transportation projects and clean energy facilities.</div> <bR> <div> Panel members would include representatives from the municipal, waste management and clean energy sectors, the environmental community, academics, the consulting industry and the legal community.</div> <bR> <div> The advisory panel will be asked to ensure recommendations maintain, or enhance, existing levels of environmental protection.</div> <bR> <div> The advisory panel will:</div> <div> identify key impediments to obtaining timely approvals for projects subject to the environmental assessment process; and </div> <div> examine the existing environmental assessment and approvals process and identify potential improvements by category of activity (e.g., in the areas of guidance, the review process, the environmental assessment approvals process, other approvals necessary following environmental assessment approval).</div> <bR> <div> <B>Cooperation on Environmental Assessment Process</B></div> <bR> <div> A draft framework agreement between Ontario and the federal government<B> </B>on environmental assessment cooperation, to be released for comment, will provide a cooperative process for those projects subject to both federal and provincial environmental assessment legislation.  The draft agreement will outline the roles and responsibilities for each level of government.</div> <bR> <div> Projects that are typically subject to both Acts include municipal or provincial projects that require federal environmental certificates, permits, licenses, or involve federal funding, like transportation infrastructure. </div> <bR> <div> The agreement leaves legislative or decision-making responsibilities of each government intact. Any projects requiring both provincial and federal EA approvals will still require separate approvals. The goal is to avoid the unnecessary duplication, delays and uncertainty that could arise from separate environmental assessment processes while, at the same time, protecting the environment. </div> <bR> <div> <B>What you always wanted to know about plastic shopping bags but were afraid to ask</B></div> <bR> <div> THERE IS A FABULOUS STORY OUT OF AUSTRALIA about those dreaded plastic shopping bags. We all know they're not good for the environment but do you know why? </div> <bR> <div> "Plastic shopping bags have a surprisingly significant environmental impact for something so seemingly innocuous. As well as being an eyesore [next time you are outside, have a look around - you'll be amazed at the number of plastic bags littering our streets and waterways], plastic shopping bags kill large numbers of wildlife each year. In the water, plastic bags can be mistaken for jellyfish by wildlife. This makes plastic bag pollution in marine environments particularly dangerous, as birds, whales, seals and turtles ingest the bags then die from intestinal blockages. Disturbingly, it is claimed that plastic bags are the most common man-made item seen by sailors at sea.</div> <bR> <div> "The biggest problem with plastic bags is that they do not readily break down in the environment, with estimates for the time it takes them to decompose ranging from 20 to 1000 years. One of the disquieting facts stemming from this is that plastic bags can become serial killers. Once an animal that had ingested a plastic bag dies, it decays at a much faster rate than the bag. Once the animal has decomposed, the bag is released back into the environment more or less intact, ready to be eaten by another misguided organism. The incredibly slow rate of decay of plastic bags also means that each bag we use compounds the problem, because the bags simply accumulate.</div> <bR> <div> "Plastic bags also clog drains and waterways, threatening not only natural environments but also urban ones. In fact, plastic bags in drains were identified as major factors in the severe flooding in Bangladesh in 1988 and 1998. This has resulted in a ban on plastic bags being imposed there early in 2002."</div> <bR> <div> Want to know more about recycling and composting?</div> <div> You can get some fun and interesting tips by following these links:</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.compost.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.compost.org"><U>www.compost.org</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.rco.on.ca/information.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.rco.on.ca/information.html"><U>www.rco.on.ca/information.html</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/garbage/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/garbage/in"><U>www.city.toronto.on.ca/garbage/index.htm</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>