Cost benefits of waste reduction Diversion Discussion

NRU
May 20, 2015
Leah Wong

Forcing producers to take more responsibility for waste diversion in the province could unlock municipal money that could be used to fund public transit and affordable housing.

Non-profit organization Canadians for Clean Prosperity is working with municipalities, producers and the waste management sector to push the provincial government to update waste diversion legislation. While the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change has committed to updating the legislation, it has yet to introduce changes to the legislature.

“Waste diversion in Ontario has stalled at 25 per cent for the past 20 years, but costs have gone up by 70 per cent over the last 10 years,” Canadians for Clean Prosperity acting executive director Tom Chervinsky said in a deputation to Mississauga council last week.

At its May 13 meeting Mississauga council became the latest municipality to ask the province to amend the Waste Diversion Act to include tighter restrictions on individual waste producers. The city joins Barrie, Ajax, Clarington and Durham Region who previously voted to support individual producer responsibility legislation.

“Municipalities across Ontario, including Mississauga, do not have control over the waste created by businesses. Yet, we’re legally required to provide recycling for citizens and use tax dollars to pay for it,” Mayor Bonnie Crombie said in a media release.

Municipalities presently subsidize blue box recycling programs, which is yet another item on already strained budgets. Making the industry pay for a larger share of these costs would give municipalities the ability to direct their budgets to other programs and infrastructure.

“That 50 per cent of the waste diversion program [paid for by municipalities] is now liberated so municipalities can now reinvest that in things that are important to municipalities,” said Chervinsky. He added that this could free up funds to increase aff ordable housing and improve public transit.

Chervinsky said adopting a system based on individual producer responsibility would ensure producers are accountable for the full end-of-life costs associated with waste production. In addition to acting as an incentive for businesses to produce products and packaging that are easy to recycle, it would give businesses a voice in how to treat items at the end of their life.

“[Currently] there is a diff used responsibility across the system and no one is really able to move forward and push waste diversion forward,” said Chervinsky.

Ontario is lagging when it comes to waste diversion. Despite setting a 2004 goal of 60 per cent reduction by 2008, as of 2010 only 23 per cent and today only 25 per cent of Ontario’s waste is diverted.

Individual producer responsibility has been implemented in only one province in Canada—British Columbia—and in Europe it has been implemented by Germany and the United Kingdom. In 2000 the U.K. had a 40 per cent diversion rate; 10 years later, after implementing individual producer responsibility policies the diversion rate was up to 61 per cent.

“It’s absolutely reasonable to expect that Ontario can reach its 60 per cent goal,” said Chervinsky.

The provincial government last made efforts to revise legislation to improve waste reduction in 2013 with the proposed Waste Reduction Act introduced by former environment minister Jim Bradley. The bill aimed to improve accountability for waste diversion by defining the roles and responsibilities of individual producers, the province and municipalities as well as boost recycling in the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors. The bill made it to second reading but died when the general election was called.

Adopting individual producer responsibility legislation increases producers’ accountability for ensuring their products don’t end up in landfills by making them responsible for the costs of waste diversion. It also provides them with the flexibility to implement solutions necessary to keeping their products out of the landfill.

“It’s the next step forward from the absolute byzantine system we have now where people think others are responsible,” said Mississauga Ward 11 councillor George Carlson.

The cost of recycling is presently split 50/50 between businesses and municipalities. Under the current system businesses have no control over the recycling process and municipalities have no control over what waste is created. As well, municipal landfill capacity is dwindling and creating new landfills is difficult. Improving diversion rates will improve the lifespan of landfills.

While residents have made efforts to divert their waste, the real challenge for municipalities across Ontario is the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors. Only 11 per cent of non-residential waste in the province is diverted, compared to 47 per cent of residential waste. As the IC&I sector is responsible for almost two-thirds of waste disposal in Ontario, improving its waste diversion efforts is key to improving Ontario’s diversion rates.

In addition to the environmental benefits of creating more incentives for businesses to reduce their waste, there is an economic argument for adopting this kind of legislation. A May 2014 report from the Conference Board of Canada said that if the province were to meet its 60 per cent diversion goal it would create 13,000 good-paying new jobs in Ontario and increase the province’s GDP by $1.5-billion a year.