Over the weekend, I was going through files, reluctantly purging some of them, knowing that usually when I do, shortly thereafter, an information request comes in requiring that very same info whose destiny has become the recycling bin.

One of the items that was resting silently in a file, having been clipped by my clipping service (a.k.a. my parents) from the Toronto Star on October 18, 1991 (p. A18 in fact according to my Dad’s printing on the back of the article), is something that I think should be re-typed for this “column”.

Nothing more needs to be said. Here it is:

Minister plans tough trash rules for Ontario
By Peter Gorrie
TORONTO STAR

Environment Minister Ruth Grier has announced legislation that will let her impose tough waste-reduction rules on Metro and the rest of the province.

The Waste Management Act “will make waste reduction a fact of life in Ontario,” Grier said yesterday as she introduced the proposed law in the Legislature.

The plan is aimed at reducing the amount of trash going to dumps by 25 per cent by the end of 1992 and by 50 per cent by the end of the decade.

The law would give the ministry power to:

- Require larger municipalities to implement recycling and composting programs.
- Require businesses and institutions to recycle, conduct annual waste audits and prepare waste reduction plans.
- Require municipalities to set “reasonable” fees for disposing of trash at dumps. Fees at Metro dumps are now $150 a tonne, but are much lower in other parts of the province.
- Regulate all types of packaging, containers and disposable products.
- Speed approvals of waste reduction facilities, such as recycling and composting yards, that meet ministry standards.

The proposed law also deals with the search for new dumps for Metro.

Posted by Susan Antler at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As the year starts to wind into full force, I come back from the Christmas holiday season refreshed, well-rested and determined that the next 365+ days will be used to propel the cause and infrastructure for organics recovery and composting in Canada even further.

Thanks to a good rest, I have a calmer perspective right now which will, no doubt, diminish as the upcoming days and increased demands take their place in the priorities of my life.

Having been in Utopia for the entire holiday week --- a place where internet has yet to enter our home, where the fax machine needs to be plugged in and warmed up and where our telephone line, until only recently, had no answering machine connection --- I was able to enjoy just being. But over the many daily walks in the park next to my home, the lack of snow and the green-ness of everything, while personally wonderful, was beyond troubling from the perspective of what is happening to our environment.

Add the two announcements of last week about the polar bear being designated for the endangered species list http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061227-polar-bears.html and the massive ice break-up in Canada’s Arctic http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/12/28/tech-ellesmereiceshelfcollapse-20061228.html?ref=rss and the worrying accelerates.

Fortunately, we are back to work now where we can go from worrying to doing, propelled forward with the knowledge that better use of organic residuals can play a big part in helping to turn our environmental destiny towards a better directional path than the world of landfills and inattention to the health of our soils will ever lead.

Posted by Susan Antler at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)