AMO Draws Attention to Ontario's Waste Management Challenges

TORONTO, Nov. 25 /CNW/ - The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) is running a special advertising insert in papers across Ontario in November to inform the public of Ontario's growing waste management challenges.

Garbage has slipped from the headlines and off the public agenda since the "eco fee" controversy of this past summer. But eliminating the fees has not addressed the growing financial and environmental costs that inspired them.

The advertising insert focuses on the need for consumers and businesses to reduce the amount of garbage we produce and to use materials that are easier to recycle.  Titled "Heap of Trouble," the ad points to some statistics that may surprise the public, including:

• Canadians generate more waste per capita than anyone else in the developed world, based on a report from the Conference Board of Canada.
• 40 per cent of Ontario's garbage is shipped to the United States.
• Since 1989, Ontario has filled up 649 of its 730 landfills. With only 81 landfills left, we must choose to reduce waste and recycle more, or create more landfills in our communities.
• Ontario has few incentives for manufacturers and industry to reduce waste or improve products and packaging.

"Ontario can do better when it comes to waste reduction, and increasingly, we need to," said Pat Vanini, Executive Director of AMO. "AMO supports increased personal responsibility for the garbage that people and businesses create.  Holding producers more directly accountable for the waste they generate is the only way to reduce waste, improve efficiency, lower costs and better protect our environment." 

Some European jurisdictions have developed incentives for businesses to design for the environment, which means developing products that are eco-friendly in how they are manufactured, used and managed at the end of their life. This approach also looks at reduced packaging.

The public service advertising insert will run in Ontario newspapers the week of November 29 as part of the newspaper industry's in-kind contribution to recycling programs. More information about Ontario's growing waste management challenges is available at www.amo.on.ca.

AMO is a non-profit organization representing almost all of Ontario's 444 municipal governments.  AMO supports strong and effective municipal government in Ontario and promotes the value of municipal government as a vital and essential component of Ontario and Canada's political system.

Backgrounders on Waste Diversion in Ontario

For further information:

Brian Lambie, AMO Media Contact, 416-729-5425