The Ford government’s bad habit of acting before thinking hits recycling
Toronto Star editorial
Ontario is weakening independent oversight of recycling at the very time the province needs it more than ever.
It’s the latest evidence of the Ford government’s inability to see even a couple steps ahead as it goes about its thoughtless cost-cutting and regulatory changes seemingly designed to turn Ontario into some sort of lean, mean business machine.
Ontario has already committed to overhaul the blue box recycling program, moving from the system we have now, which is half paid for and run by municipalities, to one where product producers assume all the costs and responsibility for the blue box.
It’s the right thing to do and the best hope of achieving the program’s true aims. That’s not just picking up recyclables at the curb and carting them out of sight, out of mind, but actually reducing the amount of packaging that is thrown out in the first place and recycling the rest into new products.
Yet, at the start of that multi-year transition plan, Ontario seems to be abandoning the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA), which has the power to oversee and enforce producer responsibility requirements and advocate for recycling innovation.
Ontario pushes pause on recycling watchdog, citing need to cut ‘red tape.’ Critics decry loss of independent oversight
By Moira Welsh Toronto Star January 17, 2020
Premier Doug Ford’s government is weakening the powers of the independent recycling regulator that was supposed to hold producers of electronics or household hazardous waste accountable for the products they sell.
Citing a desire to reduce “red tape,” Environment Minister Jeff Yurek’s office told the Star that the new Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) “makes Ontario a less competitive place to do business, which increases costs for consumers.”
It is unclear what precipitated the minister’s decision, although Yurek and his staff have been the focus of a lobbying campaign by the industries that sell computers, printers, paint and household cleaners. In letters and emails obtained by the Star and during a Dec. 5 meeting with Yurek, lobbyists complained of “red tape” and “scope creep” by the oversight authority.
It is also unclear how the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks plans to move forward. For now, the loss of RPRA’s strong regulatory powers to investigate industry recycling claims means Ontario will have no way to independently track if materials are recycled or sent to landfill. The recycling industry says the decision will rule out business investments in new plants and recycling technology.
The minister’s office said it will continue with “strict new recycling regulations,” including higher diversion targets and new blue box standards.
But without strong and independent enforcement, those new recycling plans will not work, said Rob Cook of the Ontario Waste Management Association.
“They are missing the point that it is all for naught if you don’t have the full oversight of RPRA,” Cook said.
The recycling authority was created in 2016 as part of Liberal legislation called the Waste-Free Ontario Act and the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act. It operates on funding from the producers and regulations set by the government.
Leave a Reply