WHEREAS municipal governments in Ontario do not have the right to approve landfill projects in their communities, but have authority for making decisions on all other types of development;
AND WHEREAS this out-dated policy allows private landfill operators to consult with local residents and municipal Councils, but essentially ignore them;
AND WHEREAS Ontario’s proposed “Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan” states that the province will grant municipalities a “greater say in siting of landfills”;
AND WHEREAS municipalities already have exclusive rights for approving casinos and nuclear waste facilities within their communities, whether to host cannabis retail in their communities, AND FURTHER that the province has recognized the value of municipal approval for the siting of power generation facilities;
AND WHEREAS the recent report from Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner has found that Ontario has a garbage problem, particularly from Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) waste generated within the City of Toronto, where diversion rates are as low as 15%;
AND UNLESS significant efforts are made to increase recycling and diversion rates, a new home for this Toronto garbage will need to be found, as landfill space is filling up quickly;
AND WHEREAS municipalities across Ontario are quietly being identified and targeted as potential landfill sites for future Toronto garbage by private landfill operators;
AND WHEREAS other communities should not be forced to take Toronto waste, as landfills can contaminate local watersheds, air quality, dramatically increase heavy truck traffic on community roads, and reduce the quality of life for local residents;
AND WHEREAS municipalities should be considered experts in waste management, as they are responsible for this within their own communities, and often have decades’ worth of in-house expertise in managing waste, recycling, and diversion programs;
AND WHEREAS municipalities should have the exclusive right to approve or reject these projects, and assess whether the potential economic benefits are of sufficient value to offset any negative impacts and environmental concerns;