Ontario appears to be ready to take more steps to protect the environment on the north side of the Great Lakes. The new liberal government wants to rid the province of its bad name, especially on issues like recycling and composting. That means diverting 60 percent of the province’s garbage from landfills within the next five years, which could be good news for landfills south of the border. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports, the city of Toronto is taking the lead:
Transcript
Ontario appears to be ready to take more steps to protect the environment on the north side of the
Great Lakes. The new liberal government wants to rid the province of its bad name especially on
issues like recycling and composting. That means diverting 60-percent of the provinces’ garbage
from landfills within the next five years, which could be good news for landfills south of the
border. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports, the city of Toronto is taking the lead:
Toronto generates more than one million metric tons of garbage every year, and the amounts are
increasing. Now it wants to fall into line with the provincial government’s plan to recycle 60-
percent of its waste.
Geoff Rathbone is Toronto’s director of solid waste management services.
He says the city will reach 32-percent by the end of this year, and could make the 60-percent
mark in five years.
“In order to do that we made a number of initiatives such as making recycling mandatory and
banned grass clippings.”
The biggest change is the Green Bin Organics Program. Organic waste such as diapers, sanitary
products and animal waste is picked up in a covered green bin at curbside. That material is sent
to plants for processing and separation.
Rathbone says another plan is already working. It forces businesses to pay to have their garbage
picked up, encouraging them to recycle. So far they’ve cut waste by 40-percent in just one year.
For The Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dan Karpenchuk.