Let’s Talk Garbage

Brenda Hogg, Regional and Local Councillor
Town of Richmond Hill

"Reduce, reuse, and recycle" has never been more relevant. Garbage has become a huge financial and environmental issue for municipal governments and the public must get involved.

In York Region garbage is trucked at great expense to the United States and other jurisdictions. With concerns over border security, this option is becoming less tenable. So, York Region’s 190,000 tonnes of garbage annually is a weighty problem. Our diversion rate is approximately 24% but Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment wants all municipalities to reduce the overall amount of garbage by 60% by the year 2008. This goal can only be achieved through public education and a firm commitment to waste diversion.

Diversion means that recyclable materials such as: paper, glass, and metal must be taken out of garbage bins and sold. Organic waste, including food scraps and other biodegradable materials such as paper or yard waste represents about 62% of total residential waste and needs to be composted, not trucked to the landfill. Finally, hazardous waste like aerosol cans, batteries, paints, and pharmaceuticals must be delivered to one of three disposal sites in York Region for responsible environmental management.

Next year, a new material recovery facility and transfer station will open in East Gwillimbury, offering us more control and options for waste management. Richmond Hill is preparing for a three stream collection method where organics, recyclables, and just plain garbage for the landfill will be ‘source separated’ which means by the homeowner.

For our environment and the protection of our pocketbook, we need the public to ‘buy–in’ to waste diversion now.

Brenda