TORONTO - The majority of Ontario's trash is ending up as landfill and as the province awaits a report on how to improve recycling efforts Premier Dalton McGuinty says there's enough public goodwill to support an overhaul of the system.
The transition, though, could include "difficulties" for residents and businesses, McGuinty warns.
A final report on ways to boost Ontario's 39 per cent recycling rate is due by week's end. It will address 10 issues, including how to potentially make companies cover the full cost of dealing with packaging and products once they're thrown away.
While the cost of running the blue bin program is currently split 50-50 between the business sector and municipalities, a so-called full extended producer responsibility program would see companies pay the entire cost.
Homeowners would no longer pay for recycling through property taxes. Rather, the cost of the blue box system would be buried in the price of all the packaged goods they purchase.
McGuinty wouldn't comment on any of the ideas currently being discussed but said he thinks people are willing to do more when it comes to recycling.
"Ontarians want to participate. They sense responsibility, they know that this planet is the only home we have," McGuinty said during a recent media availability.
"There may be some difficulties associated with the process... but I think our responsibility in a position of leadership is to find a way to tap into that goodwill.
"People are saying, 'Tell me how we can help,' and we have to make it as easy for them to help as possible."
A Canadian Press analysis of the most recent provincial recycling data found the average Ontario resident was responsible for 385 kilograms of waste in 2007, which is about the weight of a large male grizzly bear. The worst trash offenders generated nearly 1.5 tonnes a year, which is more than the weight of a compact car.
Only 39.23 per cent of the waste was recycled.
It makes sense for the business sector to take a greater role in running the recycling system, said Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen. Companies will have a better understanding of how to improve the sustainability of their packaging and how more materials can be recycled and kept out of landfills, he said.
"They know their own business better then we as a government ever would," said Gerretsen.
"All we can do is put the direction out there, make sure that it happens and then let them come up with a program that's designed to meet the targets," he said.
While companies will get a significant say in coming up with rules and reasonable targets for diversion, the government will have the final say in ensuring they're aggressive enough, Gerretsen added.
"The rules as far as how diversion will take place ultimately get approved here," he said. "(But) it isn't an us or them situation at all. We're all in it together."
A discussion paper the province released on recycling reforms noted that producers are currently not rewarded for creating better packaging and aren't punished for putting materials in the marketplace that are difficult and more expensive to recycle.
That report also identified recycling rates by the industrial, commercial and institutional sector as disappointingly low.
The sector was responsible for about two-thirds of the total waste generated in Ontario in 2006, but only 12 per cent of it was diverted from landfill compared to the residential rate that year of 38 per cent.
"We cannot continue to ignore (that sector), we have to bring them in and start engaging them in waste diversion," said Elaine MacDonald, a scientist with the environmental advocacy group Ecojustice.
"I'd like to see them brought into required recycling, to be brought into the fold on all of this."
MacDonald said she's encouraged that the province appears to be willing to act boldly in its reforms.
"They are embracing the concept of zero waste and while right now it's only at a level of discussion and consultation, I am encouraged and do hope it comes to fruition," she said.
"It's not going to be an easy policy shift to make but I think we can do it."
