Recycling Council of Ontario

Semana Lima Zero October 2016

About Us
Not-for-profit membership-based organization established in 1978

Recycling Council of Ontario

Members represent a variety of stakeholders including municipalities,

industry and business and public

Focus is solid waste (haz. and non-haz.) reduction, reuse, recycling.

Instrumental in developing Ontarios curbside packaging program (Blue
box)
Facilitation of partnerships (public and private) collaborate with
business and governments.
Involved in advocacy and policy development
Research best practices
Promote and Educate all sectors and the public
Programs Schools, Municipalities, Businesses
Funding comes from government grants, events, membership, research
funding, and corporate sponsors

Transitioning Canada to a
Circular Economy
Zero Waste Cities

Populati
on
209.6
million
36.28
million

Size of
the
Country
8.5
million KM
(2)
9.9
million KM
(2)

Canadas Performance
Canada

2014

Overall Recycling Rate

32%

Total Amounts Disposed

26 million tonnes

Amount disposed per home

731 Kg

Amount disposed; homes

9.3 million tonnes

(37%)

Amount disposed; non residential

(businesses, industry & institutions)

15.6 million tonnes

(63%)

Amount of material diverted

8.5 million tonnes

Materials diverted by weight

Paper

40%

Organics 27%
Metals
5

15%

How Waste/Resources are Regulated

National Government
Governs imports and exports of goods and
materials
Focuses on pollution prevention and toxicity
Provincial and Territorial Governments
Legislates recycling and disposal disposal citing;
operational approvals for recycling operations
Legislates Producer Responsibility, Disposal Bans
and Fees (incentives and disincentives)

Recycling Council of Ontario

Linear to circular economy

Recycling Council of Ontario

Why Circular Economy

Reduces reliance upon virgin resources limited and expensive
Reutilize the value of materials over and over
apply a value in waste
Using post consumed materials reduces
energy and therefore production costs
Consumers are changing want the value of a
product not necessarily the product
Digital age is changing our consumption
habits UBER, Airbnb, lease/rentals
Living in cities, limited space
8

Policy Shifts
Eliminating the concept of waste using the terms
resources
Waste means there is an Inefficiency in the system,
increased management costs
Moving from local government responsibility to producer
responsibility costs shared with the
manufacturers/retailers who sell products
Municipalities introducing their own by-laws if the state or
federal government is not moving in the right direction
(disposal fees, bans from disposal, mandatory recycling)
Connection between recycling and reducing energy and
Green House Gas Emissions (Climate Change) with
reduction and recycling

Policy Shifts
General
o Recycling and composting competes with cheap disposal (80$ per
tonne). Need to apply a fee to disposal (pollution) or subsidize recycling
and composting
o Diminishing disposal capacity citing landfills and energy from waste
facilities are not popular
o Creating local recycling systems/programs to reduce costs and create
local jobs.
o Cities from all over the world are working together, making global
environmental commitments even if their state or provincial governments
are not taking action.
o Growing their reputation on these commitments as world class
cities and innovators.

10

Trends for Consumer Goods

o Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a popular policy
tool of choice for regulators
o EPR means an environmental policy approach in which a
producers responsibility for a product is extended to the
post-consumer stage of a products life cycle. - Canadian
Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME)
o Provides a shift of responsibility (physical and financial to
producers/sellers of goods)
o EPR has the potential to reduce environmental impacts of
waste and support more sustainable waste management
systems.
o Many businesses are beginning to develop their own
individual stewardship program to manage their own
products, sometime ahead of regulation = more control
11

National

EPR AND PRODUCT

STEWARDSHIP
PROGRAMS
IN CANADA

Recycling Council of Ontario

Role of the Cities

13

Bear the costs of waste management failure Economic ,

environmental, health and social costs
Cities have a strong role to pressure federal government
to expand regulations and compliance of producer
responsibility
Cities are more nimble and autonomous comparatively to
other levels of government (state or national). Can use
their own by-laws to educate and encourage behaviour
change (bans from disposal, pay as you through
City planning strategies are better incorporating waste
reduction considerations
Direct relationship with residents in the best position to
motivate and educate residents
Environmental protection and clean cities grows pride in
the residents and improve global reputation
Have the ability to collect good empirical data to use to
inform policy making.

Recycling Council of Ontario

Municipalities

14

Different responsibilities province by province

operate programs for residents (sometimes
businesses)
Have the ability to use their own by-laws ; banning
plastic bags, banning materials from disposal,
collecting levies)

Recycling Council of Ontario

Municipalities

15

Municipalities fund recycling and garbage service through their

taxes
Since producer responsibility laws are in place, municipalities
reduce their costs by receiving funds from certain producers
who are obligated to collect and recycle hard lobby effortst to
expand Producer responsibility laws
Most cities have well established collection and recycling
programs
Own and operate their own collection fleets and sorting
facilities.
Originally motivate to serve a public good hygiene and
environmental
Some provinces require by law that municipalities to collect
door to door

Recycling Council of Ontario

Municipal Programs

16

Collection and recycling rates for most cities are

in 40 60%
Well established infrastructure and a lot of
operational knowledge
Door to door for garbage, packaging and most
recently organics
Permanent drop off depots that take tires, oil,
hazardous wastes, electronics
Drop off events. Specific dates where certain
materials are collected
Focus for the future is on organics
Also looking at textiles, carpets and mattresses

Performance and Costs

Recycling Council of Ontario

City

17

Populatio Recycling $ Spent

n
Rate
on Waste
Managem
ent

Vancouver

2,47 million

61%

$105 million

Toronto

2.60 million

53%

$354 million

Calgary

1.19 million

30%

$38 million

Montreal

1.89 million

31%

$160 million

Mobilizing Residents

Recycling Council of Ontario

Use a variety to change behaviours

18

Educate to their residents (tax billings, printed

materials, public phone services
Fee for service - pay for your collection bins/bags by
size. Large is most expense, small is cheapest
Collection in clear bags and eave contaminated
recycling at the home if its not correctly source
separated
Frequency of pick up. Weekly for recycling, bi-weekly
for garbage
Work cooperatively with other municipalites through
theiir association to identify and share best practices
= benchmarking
Report their performance publically on their city
websites

Recycling Council of Ontario

Green Procurement

19

Municipalities spend a lot on products and

services for their own departments, buildings and
operations (e.g. office furniture, computers, lights,
construction materials)
Establish a policy that including environment
stewardship of your suppliers
Integrate requirements in purchasing agreements;
(example only buy from suppliers that will help
collect and recycling the products when they
become discards)

20
Recycling Council of Ontario

Obrigado!

Jo-Anne St. Godard

905.586.5866
joanne@rco.on.ca