In this rapidly evolving COVID-19 world, hand washing and other clean behaviors have been drawn into sharp focus.

Worldwide, strategies to conquer this new and highly infectious disease rely on the global citizenry to follow strict rules in a fight to eradicate it.

Looking around at the landscape just here in Toronto and the utterly tragic proportions of litter revealed by  spring, one wonders how we will wrestle down the coronavirus when we as a society can’t even manage to stop the littering habit.

To not litter is simpler than washing your hands, easier than not touching your face, doesn’t involve physical  distancing.

Everywhere, health officials are dispensing advice day to day, hour to hour.

We’d like to hear them say: no spitting, no throwing your cups, cans, bottles and lids, nor straws, no wipes and tissues on the ground, no cigarette butts or chewing gum dropped or flicked, and, though it has nothing to do with littering, let's add, no blowing smoke in other people's air space at this time of aerosol and airborne disease transmission and awareness.  In short, use a bin. It’s a simple rule, one the health spokespeople should recite at every given opportunity, especially in an era that's reminding us to be hygienic and keep clean.

In response to the City report released on a single use and takeaway plastic reduction strategy.

Date: May 18, 2021
​To: Chair and Members of Infrastructure and Environment Committee
Re: Response to IE22.6 Single-Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy - Stage 1

Please use the communications opportunity in the Voluntary Measures Program to focus in part on littering. 

In “Attachment 8 - Moving Forward: Stage 1 of the Reduction Strategy – Encourage Voluntary Measures in 2021”  I think it was either an oversight or a mistake that ‘litter’ and ‘littering’ are not referenced with respect to promotion, outreach and engagement communications. Along with encouraging consumers and establishments to switch over to reusable alternatives for straws, cups, bags, etc. the city must also encourage responsible disposal of the commonly littered items, such as those identified in: Attachment 2 - Presentation from September 24, 2019 Public Event "Addressing Single-use and Takeaway Items in Toronto" and Attachment 3A-3E - Single-use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy - Phase Two Public Consultation Report and Activities.

As well I’d also like to note that chewing gum and cigarette filters are also single-use plastic items prevalent in the litter stream although not identified for the purposes of this report.

As part of the communication plan to businesses, I believe it is imperative that the City recite and underscore the importance of complying with the bylaw applying to keeping storefronts and retail properties free of litter. I attach several recent photos from one of Scarborough’s local supermarkets, which houses an extensive take-away food counter, as an example of single use plastics and irresponsible disposal gone awry. This messy example of a grocery store parking lot is not unique to this one retail establishment.  The problem is endemic.

As the focus turns to the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy there needs to be a program, preferably multilingual, that deals with enforcing property cleanliness standards on businesses. 

Citizens who care about the degraded state of our littered city are long past the point of being fed up over inattention to this and the lack of enforcement and communication.  Now there is an opportunity to rectify a shortcoming.

Since resources are being recommended at this juncture to support an outreach and communication plan, it should be simple to stress expectations of site cleanliness to the constituencies, whether residents or businesses.

Appendix 8 did not include the words ‘litter’ or ‘littering’ yet they are among the biggest complaints and hazards associated with single use plastic items in land and marine environments. For some reason the subject of litter is often overlooked or downplayed to the point of omission.

Just as with the development of outdoor smoking bylaws where public health policies made no provision for strategies to deal with the increase in cigarette butt littering outdoors, I see this report sidestepping littering when it could be embracing it as part of the behavior change communications package being suggested.

Since the goal is to target the food and restaurant industry it makes sense to incorporate litter prevention/reduction information into the messaging.
I support a voluntary approach to start and hope it enjoys the same success as water on request in restaurants saw in the 1980s.
I support discouraging products labelled compostable and biodegradable, since some minds will construe that to mean the stuff magically disappears so it’s okay to litter it.
If Council approves a Recognition Program for businesses that adopts voluntary measures to reduce single-use and takeaway items, I think this should also include a consideration of and ranking for the tidiness of their outdoor space and their adherence to waste management and litter laws. 
I think the city should adopt a holistic approach to this program across all city departments so as to leverage communication channels of other City divisions to impart consistent messaging.
As an example of skirting around the discussion of litter, I refer to a direct quote from the report, which says: “... efforts to support a green recovery Public space and streetscape audits will also be performed to quantify the amount of single-use and takeaway items found in the public realm.”
 
‘Items found in the public realm’ could easily have been replaced with ‘items littered in the public realm’ to build on the idea that these items generally aren’t landing there by accident but are due to someone’s carelessness or disrespect of a bylaw.

It would be my hope that in the design of communications, input from a reputable concern specializing in litter science will be used, and if an outside advertising agency is employed for this project that they will seek the appropriate expertise and information to include for creating the best possible reminder about handling waste and not littering it, and reducing use of and dependency on single use plastics.

The VMP is being recommended to “target materials which are known to contribute to street litter and marine litter” so it only makes sense for the city and Council to use this moment as an opportunity to include an effective anti-litter message in its pending communications.
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On that note it would be great to see this committee of Infrastructure and Environment put the topic of Litter Updates on its agenda routinely to give this entire issue the focused attention it deserves.
These are my comments.  Thank you.

Sheila White
Editor/Publisher, This Week In “Litterland”

Since we're in a pandemic the news was not entirely unexpected.  The decision to cancel this year's Litter Day of Action for the second straight year came late.  I'm sure everyone was hoping Ontario would be in better shape by now.  It's not that the whole day is cancelled, just the cleanup part of it, which is really what the event is all about.  Here's how the Ministry worded it:

"We are pleased to let you know the 2021 Provincial Day of Action on Litter is taking place on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.  In light of the Stay-at-Home order and the province’s ongoing efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19, this year the Day of Action on Litter will focus on raising awareness of the impacts of waste in the environment, and what actions every Ontarian can do to prevent, reduce and divert waste, right at home. The ministry will not be promoting cleanups for May 11, 2021 out of an abundance of caution.
We invite you to join our digital efforts by sharing content on social media to profile what your organization and members of your community are doing to prevent, reduce or divert waste in your communities, and what local residents can do to get involved. We also invite you to update calendars to note the virtual Day of Action on Tuesday May 11, 2021. We will follow-up in the near future with a Partner Guide that will include sample social media content, shareable graphics and ideas to inspire individual actions on litter and waste. Our www.ontario.ca/actONlitter page will also be updated in the near future to reflect the 2021 Day of Action. So please stay tuned! The ministry’s digital campaign leading up to the Day of Action will launch soon - please keep an eye out for sharable social posts on the ministry’s social media accounts and follow the #actONlitter hashtag!    If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].
The Provincial Day of Action on Litter Team, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

I'm pleased to say that I have quarterly meetings with the Ministry now to check-in on how the litter file is progressing. Improving the litter web page and mentioning it more pronouncedly were among my suggestions.  This Ministry welcomes feedback, so I emailed my thoughts about the cleanup cancellation to my contacts there.  Here are some excerpts:

"I take heart that one of these years we'll have ourselves a real Day of Action. In the meantime we can all give thought on how to advance litter prevention throughout the year in a more robust way aside from cleanups.  

"For example, it would really great if Minister Yurek could have a word with his counterpart at the Ministry of  Transportation to put more frequent litter messages and PSAs in front of the public, on the LED highway signage, for example. Imagine the impact those would have on the giant new advertising boards installed on Highway 401.  With cleanups cancelled and a pandemic-related increase in roadside litter clearly evident, promoting a Keep Ontario Clean with a properly tailored litter prevention message throughout the year would be helpful, not to mention smart. 

"While I do appreciate the potential liability issues that people in government positions must consider, I continue to pick up litter.  I see no reason to change my established practice. 

"I continue to advocate that people both not throw down and do pick up. As a researcher I have seen zero documentation to indicate that there is any risk to litter picking, a solo, outdoor activity. However, I did take note when that myth first began to surface in 2020, much to my chagrin. Any suggestion that the coronavirus is transmitted through inanimate objects has been roundly debunked now by the Center for Disease Control.  Take care, all."