Canadian province Ontario is set to implement various measures to tackle plastic litter and waste, as well as revamp recycling.
Image: Ontario is focusing on tackling the problem of plastic pollution and litter. Photo: courtesy of artur84 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Ontario is focusing on tackling the problem of plastic pollution and litter, which is polluting parks, highways, lakes and rivers.
The province has appointed David Lindsay as a special advisor on Recycling and Plastic Waste initiative to solve the issues.
Lindsay will submit a report to the Canadian Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks Rod Phillips on tackling plastic waste and litter, improve recycling and increase products that can be dumped into the blue box, as well as make producers to manage plastic and other packaging at end-of-life.
Phillips said: “Ontario families take pride in doing their part for the environment. In fact, our own city of Kitchener was the birthplace of the world’s first Blue Box programme.”
Ontario aims to transition the costs of the Blue Box Program away from municipal taxpayers to make the producers of products and packaging fully responsible, as part of the Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan.
The minister has requested special advisor to focus on standardisation across the province of what can be recycled in offices, parks, public spaces and homes, as well as improve diversion rates and increase what materials can be recycled.
The report will also focus on reducing litter and waste in communities and parks, and improve Ontario’s Blue Box Programme by making producers to pay for the recycling of the products they produce.
According to Ontario, the current Blue Box Programme has been in place since the 1980s and had success in recovering residential printed paper and packaging for recycling. Blue Box costs may increase by around $10m (£5.9m) per year after this year.
At present, Lindsay is the president and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities. Earlier, he was the president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada and of Colleges Ontario.
Lindsay said: “I’m looking forward to helping Ontario’s municipalities and producers work together to address plastic litter and improve recycling in our province.”