Debate on Toronto's looming trash crisis spills open

Etobicoke-based Wilson Logistics is reported to have bailed out of the 20-year deal that that was originally inked in 2000. By March, 2006, the firm is set to end its contract with the city.

Within the near future, there could be a vote in Washington that would help Michigan legislators close their border to garbage coming from Ontario with just 90 days' notice.

In September, 2005, the Michigan House of Representatives passed legislation banning Canadian garbage. And on March 1, 2006, Michigan state legislators passed a bill that would ban Canadian trash.

The U.S. government must also pass federal legislation giving states control over the garbage flow.

Polls show Michigan voters are becoming increasingly outraged over their state serving as another country's dumping ground.

If the legislation is passed, Ontario will have no place to put the 3.5 million tonnes of garbage it trucked to Michigan in 2004.

In fact, the Ontario Waste Management Association said last year that if the Canada-U.S. border closes immediately, the province would have the capacity to store just two days' worth of trash.

The hot potato

The matter has become a hot potato - one neither the municipalities nor the provincial government are taking the blame for.

Municipal governments say the province needs to step in while the province says it's up to the cities and businesses to resolve the issue.

Herein lies the problem.

Toronto city councillor Shelley Carroll, who chairs the city's works committee, has said Toronto has an agreement in principle with another company.

Carroll said the new contract will give Toronto a contingency plan if the U.S. decides to close its border to Canadian trash. She said the U.S. would have to provide 90-days notice.

But there is no word on what that contingency plan might be.

Contentious solutions

Some insiders contend the only remaining option for the province would be to allow, or force, some large Ontario landfills to take waste from the Greater Toronto Area.

Toronto, York, Peel and Durham, which all rely on Michigan to dispose of residential garbage, commissioned consulting firm Gartner Lee to detail a backup plan in a report.

This plan, which was given to the province several months ago, reportedly outlines as many as 12 Ontario landfills that are currently off-limits that could take waste, including municipal sites in Halton, Waterloo, London Essex-Windsor and Brantford.

But mayors across Southern Ontario are irate at the partially leaked report. They say they don't want another town's garbage crisis to become their own smelly burden.

Halton Regional Chair Joyce Savoline says if the region's landfill site were to be used for garbage from other towns, it would overflow in as little as eight months.

"I was very disappointed and surprised to hear the premier say this is not a responsibility of the province. That is no longer acceptable," she told CTV.ca.

"To find out you are being considered as an interim solution for a crisis that should never have happened doesn't sit well," Savoline added.

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley agrees, saying the answer is for the provincial government to take control of the situation and provide a resolution.

"There hasn't been a government yet in the last twenty years that wants to do that. It's a messy situation," he told CTV.ca.

As speculation flies rampant over what could happen next, observers are looking to more permanent solutions to a shortage of landfill space.

But so far, each suggested temporary alternative has drawn criticism.

Reduce, reuse, recycle… incinerate?

Long-term solutions include speeding up environmental assessments for the creation of new landfills and incinerators, improving recycling and diversion efforts, and amending packaging regulations.

While the Conservatives are pressing the Liberals to consider incineration, the New Democrats are calling for municipalities to receive more funding to increase recycling programs.

But Toronto Environmental Alliance spokesperson Gord Perks says there is no easy solution.

Even if the city's landfill were to be incinerated, the remaining 20 to 30 per cent would still need to be sent to a landfill site, he told CTV.ca.

Not only that, Perks says there is no adequate incineration capacity anywhere in Canada that would be able to handle Toronto's garbage.

Besides, he says, "incinerators are machines for turning highly processed resources into global warming gases and toxic chemicals. Furthermore, they are two to three times more expensive than landfill."

Professor Philip Byer, chair of the Division of Environmental Engineering at the University of Toronto told CTV.ca the use of thermal technologies, such as incineration, is not so clear-cut.

He concedes that the technology has made strides in the past 20 years, but he adds that it is too early for him to condone the method.

Currently, there are more questions than answers concerning such thermal technologies, says Byer, who served as co-chair of the city's New and Emerging Technologies, Policies and Practices Advisory Group for 2003 and 2004.

Diversion efforts

The key to an effective long-term solution, Perks believes, is the implementation of successful recycling and diversion measures.

He concedes, however, that Toronto has already been relatively successful on that front.

"It's actually one of the best cities on the continent with the rollout of the Green Bin Program," he said.

The Green Bin Program, which launched in parts of Greater Toronto in 2002, allows participants to put organics (including fruit and vegetables scraps, coffee grinds etc.) out for collection, separate from garbage and recycling.

In late February of this year, Mayor David Miller assured Torontonians they have a recycling program that would make other North American cities green with envy.

"Today is a cause for celebration," he said.

A celebration, he noted, because Toronto has reached a milestone. More than 95 per cent of single-family homes recycle, leading to a record 40 per cent of waste being diverted from landfill sites.

In fact, the diversion rate is right on target with the city's plan to reduce the amount of trash sent to Michigan, it means less than 100 trucks are sent there every day, which is down from 142 trucks in 2003.

Perks says the recycling and diversion rates are "really quite remarkable."

"I can remember Toronto city councillors arguing 15 years ago we would never divert more than 10 per cent," he said.

Meanwhile, Toronto, York and Durham have all initiated environmental assessment processes to find a way to deal with their own garbage. However, under current rules, it could take another 10 years to get through the assessment process to get approval for a landfill.

But if the Michigan border closes to Ontario's garbage anytime soon, the municipalities' efforts may well be too little, too late.

Follow these links for ways to make sure your garbage isn't a total waste

Recycle old computer equipment:

Donate your old cellphone

Recycle rechargeable batteries