How to Make Your Waste-Reducing Voice Heard (…and How GREENish Can Help)
A real-life blue box. It all started in Ontario in the early 1980s. Just like us.
Did you know that the first curbside recycling program in the world was Ontario’s Blue Box program? True story. It began as a pilot program in Kitchener-Waterloo.
Back then, in the early 1980’s, the concept of recycling waste wasn’t a novel one, but getting residents to separate their garbage to make this grand idea achievable certainly was. Getting a government to actually implement such a scheme took serious hard work, and the dedication of many over years before it actually came to fruition. There is some great history on it here from Stewardship Ontario, who help fund the Blue Box program in your community.
Today, residents of nearly every town in Ontario (and in a lot of other places) expect recycling and Green Bin services on a weekly basis. Most people also have access to diversion programs for hazardous waste, tires, electronics, and on and on. The concept of curbside waste diversion has spread internationally, and in most cases the producers of that waste are at least partially responsible for the cost of these programs. This is a concept called Extended Producer Responsibility, and it’s a good thing to know about.
There is often a sense amongst the cynical citizenry (most of us) that our input to government goes ignored, as Governments implement change at a pace that makes time appear to flow backward. But, in reality, real, lasting change does occur, it just takes a while to get from the first step to the last one.
But you can’t have a last step without that first one. This is where GREENish comes in.
We believe that environmental programs and policies work best when they reflect the knowledge, history, and needs of a specific community. We want to help you identify the sustainability goals for your community or organization, and to communicate those goals to policymakers who can help take those goals and put them into action.
Effectively communicating with government requires a specific set of skills that, believe it or not, we do actually possess at GREENish:
We know and understand the existing goals, targets, and priorities of multiple levels of government, and how they relate to waste management and reduction.
We understand the positions of your local politicians, and can dig in to find common ground to engage with those positions. There’s almost always something.
We recognize that money matters, that the budget is the budget, and that making an idea work will require working within that budget (and time to get there).
We can provide an easily understandable path or framework for politicians to take while making your ideas a reality.
GREENish can help you, your business, or your organization communicate your sustainability priorities so that your voice is heard. Have an idea that you think can help you directly or others in your community? Reach out. We’ll get back to you and get a plan in motion together.
Example of Something We’ve Actually Done:
Now, do you want to see an actual example of what we can do? Check out some recent writing we did for a major municipal budget submission. This subsample links to relevant municipal reports and documents, references existing municipal goals and policies, and communicates our clients’ waste reduction preferences in language that speaks to government regulators (Nerdy? Boring? Opaque? All of these?) Take a look:
GREENish has questions about is the degree to which the City's Green Bin program influences these rates hikes, and how plans for future Anaerobic Digesters will affect the ongoing operational costs of the system.
The City demonstrated genuine leadership in implementing the world’s first urban curbside Green Bin system. Originally, the Green Bin was touted as taking a comprehensive feedstock, including greasy paper plates, pizza boxes, ice cream boxes, paper towels, sugar and flour bags, and so on. Increasingly, however, City staff are delivering a message that the Green Bin is “designed to manage food waste only” - this change in messaging is confusing for long term users of the Green Bin program.
GREENish believes that clarity is required as to what packaging and disposable containers are truly compostable in the City’s Green Bin program - our clients ask us about this type of compatibility regularly. The City's existing ADAPT Policy provides guidance for producers of these materials in entering a testing process, but not for small businesses who need to use them in their daily operations and want to make the most sustainable choice possible.
1. A full 18% ($141.0 M) of the SWMS proposed Capital Budget is dedicated to a third Anaerobic Digester (see Slide 25), but it is unclear what that new Anaerobic Digester (AD) will be able to process, or why specific processing technologies have been sought:
The original Disco AD operates using a hydropulper, which effectively shreds material as it enters digestion. The new Dufferin AD uses a press mechanism to feed the digester, and may not be capable of processing the fibre materials originally welcomed in the Green Bin.
Will the Green Bin program be switching to a 'food waste only' program in the future?
Is the current preference for 'food waste only' (see above) related to the decision to recover natural gas at these facilities?
2. How will compostable fibre materials, such as the ones listed above, be managed in the future Green Bin system? GREEnish recommends a motion be tabled, similar to the text below:
Committee/Council requests that City Staff commit that current and future design, construction and operation of Anaerobic Digesters to process materials from the City's Green Bin organics program allow for the effective processing of compostable fibre materials, such as packaging and takeaway containers; and,
City Staff provide clarity to customers on exactly what "compostable" packaging and/or containers can be processed in the Green Bin, within the first quarter of 2020
GREENish urges caution to City staff when considering the inclusion of so-called "compostable plastic" materials. The only existing standard for "composting" this stuff is ASTM D6400, which applies to Aerobic processes only (not the ADs above). And existing Organics processors do NOT want it.
If the City is willing to commit to processing fibre materials in its Green Bin - and it did start out that way! - small businesses in Toronto will be more able to make a green(ish) choice when it comes to their takeaway containers or packaging. Reduction is always the best choice (you probably read that in our November submission on Single-use item reduction), but with the City committing so much money to a future Green Bin processing capacity, you should ensure you can process everything well.