AMO Breaking News July 27, 2010

Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Delivers Straight Talk on Waste Diversion

The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) released a Special Report to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario today entitled:  Getting it Right: Paying for the Management of Household Hazardous Wastes.

It should be noted that the extended producer responsibility (EPR) statements that are being made with respect to household hazardous waste equally hold for the blue box program. AMO's Media Release and Backgrounder are attached below.

Highlights of the ECO Special Report include:

• The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) supports the MHSW (Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste) program as a major step forward towards the better management of household hazardous materials and the improved diversion of waste from landfill.
   
• If Ontarians generally agree that better programs are required to manage MHSW, the immediate question that arises is “who should pay for these better programs?” Should taxpayers pay (through municipal property taxes) or should industry pay? Or should the costs be shared in some fashion? The past few years have seen the public policy pendulum swing away from government (i.e., taxpayer) funded programs and towards industry-funded models, known as either “extended producer responsibility” or stewardship programs. 
    
•  The general consensus that has developed in recent years is that government-funded programs cannot deliver the same benefits as stewardship programs, primarily because:
   
  • Having the taxpayer fund the program is inherently unfair and provides no incentive to the public to change their purchasing behaviour;
  • Government has no control over product design and thus cannot create products with improved recyclability or other environmental benefits;
  • Government program costs are not kept in check by the discipline of competition.
     
• The ECO believes that the MHSW program is a major step in the right direction:
   
  • The program will keep more hazardous materials out of our environment – MHSW materials must be managed properly at the end of their life. Without proper management – i.e., collection, recycling and safe disposal – these toxic materials end up in landfills, where they can contaminate water, air and soil. The MHSW program will increase diversion of our municipal hazardous wastes from landfills by extending collection and recycling services across Ontario.
  • The program will put the cost of managing MHSW where it belongs: on producers – There is no question that MHSW must be properly managed to prevent the contamination of our environment. This necessity, however, brings with it an unavoidable economic cost. If we accept that there is a cost, who should pay it? Historically, the costs of managing MHSW in Ontario have been borne by the public through municipal property taxes. The ECO strongly supports the stewardship model adopted in the MHSW program, which shifts the full cost of managing hazardous wastes from the taxpayer to the manufacturer of the product.
  • The program will provide much-needed information – The MHSW program will provide much needed information on the amount of hazardous waste that is generated, collected and disposed of in Ontario by requiring stewards to track MHSW materials. This information can be used to measure progress in meeting the program’s goals, as well as measure the costs of the program.
    
     
• AMO New Release and Backgrounder
• Environmental Commissioner of Ontario’s Special Report
  
  AMO Contact:   Monika Turner, Director of Policy, email:  MTurner@amo.on.ca, (416) 971-9856 ext. 318.