INCLUDE LITTER IN ONTARIO'S NEW WASTE REDUCTION ACT, ADVOCATE SAYS
TORONTO (September 1, 2013) It would be a mistake to omit litter from the proposed legislation that will govern how Ontario reduces its waste, says an advocate and expert on littering behaviours.
Sheila White, of the Litter Prevention Program in Toronto, is lobbying the Ministry of Environment to remove wording in the draft Waste Reduction Act that allows producers to sidestep responsibility for their product litter.
“I’m asking for the deletion of three little words used to describe waste governed by Bill 91 as proposed. Those three words are ‘end of life’ waste.”
White explains how Ontario’s stewardship agency for waste producers defines “end of life” as waste products that end up in a bin. This loophole enables both the provincial government and industry stewards to not deal with waste materials that people litter instead of binning, she says.
“The new Waste Reduction Act offers a fresh opportunity to include litter in Ontario’s overall waste management strategy. Ontario lags far behind in its policies and thinking around littering,” said White, who publishes a global newsletter on the subject and a commercial-free website, litterpreventionprogram.com.
White and her partner, Alex King, formally asked Ontario’s environment ministry to review littering last November using the Environmental Bill of Rights and were turned down in early 2013. The province hasn’t studied littering since 1977.
September 4 is the deadline for the public to comment on Bill 91. Link here to comment.
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For more information, contact:
Sheila White (416) 321-0633; mobile (416) 605-0709
TORONTO (September 1, 2013) It would be a mistake to omit litter from the proposed legislation that will govern how Ontario reduces its waste, says an advocate and expert on littering behaviours.
Sheila White, of the Litter Prevention Program in Toronto, is lobbying the Ministry of Environment to remove wording in the draft Waste Reduction Act that allows producers to sidestep responsibility for their product litter.
“I’m asking for the deletion of three little words used to describe waste governed by Bill 91 as proposed. Those three words are ‘end of life’ waste.”
White explains how Ontario’s stewardship agency for waste producers defines “end of life” as waste products that end up in a bin. This loophole enables both the provincial government and industry stewards to not deal with waste materials that people litter instead of binning, she says.
“The new Waste Reduction Act offers a fresh opportunity to include litter in Ontario’s overall waste management strategy. Ontario lags far behind in its policies and thinking around littering,” said White, who publishes a global newsletter on the subject and a commercial-free website, litterpreventionprogram.com.
White and her partner, Alex King, formally asked Ontario’s environment ministry to review littering last November using the Environmental Bill of Rights and were turned down in early 2013. The province hasn’t studied littering since 1977.
September 4 is the deadline for the public to comment on Bill 91. Link here to comment.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Sheila White (416) 321-0633; mobile (416) 605-0709
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