contact February 4th, 2008
From toronto.ca:
General
From January to August 2007, on average, 74 truck loads per day of solid waste (approximately 441,363 tonnes) went to Michigan landfill…down from 142 daily truck loads in 2003. This includes waste the City collects from residents, ICI (Industrial, Commercial, Institutional), ABC&Ds (Agency, Boards, Commissions, Divisions) and schools.
Toronto sent approximately 696,327 tonnes of waste to Michigan landfill in 2006.
Toronto’s waste disposal contract with the Carlton Farms Landfill in Michigan expires at the end of 2010.
Effective April 2, 2007, the City of Toronto became official owners of the Green Lane Landfill Site located in Southwold Township in the County of Elgin, southwest of the City of London, about 200 km from downtown Toronto. The Site features the latest technology including onsite treatment of leachate and a methane gas collection and flaring systems.
As of mid-April 2007 through to the end of August 2007, Toronto sent on average, three loads per day of solid waste to Green Lane Landfill, an amount equal to approximately 11,735 tonnes.
Green Bin organics are collected once a week and recyclables and residual waste are collected on alternating weeks.
Solid Waste Management Services has the following facilities
-seven Transfer Stations
-one Organic Processing Facility
-six HHW depots (Household Hazardous Waste)
-wo MRFs (Material Recovery Facility for sorting recyclables)
-three Maintenance Yards
-one Landfill (Green Lane Landfill Site)
Current waste diversion statistics
In 2006, 42% of Toronto’s residential waste was diverted thanks to the Blue/Grey box, Green Bin and Yard Waste composting programs. This means 375,621 tonnes of garbage was kept off Michigan trucks.
In 2006, multi-unit dwellings (apartments and condos) recycled only 13% of their garbage. The City, looking to improve that statistic, is launching a new volume-based rate structure in 2008 to enhance recycling rates. The results from piloting various waste diversion programs in select multi-unit buildings will be used to implement new programs.
In 2007, Toronto City Council approved the “Getting to 70% waste diversion from landfill plan”, which lays out the plan to increase waste diversion to 70% by 2010 and the funding model by which this goal can be achieved.
Environmental benefits of achieving 70% diversion from landfill
By achieving 70 % diversion, Solid Waste will reduce its GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions by an additional 25 per cent, which is equal to taking over 100,000 cars off the road.
With 70 % diversion, Toronto will recycle 240,000 tonnes of paper annually, to save 4.5 million trees a year.
Diverting 70% of its waste means Toronto will recycle enough Blue Box materials to save 900 million kWh (kilowatt hours) of energy annually, which is enough to supply all the electrical needs for 170,000 homes.
Green Bin Organics collection
The Green Bin Program, which collects and processes household organic waste so it can be turned into finished compost, is now available to all 510,000 single-family households across Toronto.
With city-wide single-family household participation, approximately 100,000 tonnes of waste is diverted from landfill annually (resulting in 2,750 fewer trucks to Michigan each year).
It is estimated that each single-family home on the Green Bin Program contributes more than 200 kilograms of organic waste annually to the program.
30% of all residential garbage is “wet” waste or organic waste.
The Green Bin Program has a 90% participation rate.
Blue/Grey Box Combined
In 2006, Toronto recycled 163,385 tonnes of residential blue/grey box recyclables (resulting in 4,805 fewer trucks to Michigan).
In 2005, the Program expanded to include tubs and lids (e.g., margarine containers and yogurt tubs) and in 2006, cardboard cans (refrigerated dough, frozen juice, chip, nut, powder drink mix and powdered cleanser containers – minus peal-off seal or pull-off strip) were added to the Blue Box Program.
Toronto residents now combine Blue Box and Grey Box recyclables together in one container for more efficient collection and processing (effective Spring 2005).
Recycling not only saves money, it helps saves electricity via energy savings
75% less energy and 50% less water is used to make paper from recycled paper versus raw wood fibre.
Recycling one tonne of old newspapers saves 19 trees (Toronto typically recycles 100,000 tonnes of newspapers annually giving more than two million trees a tomorrow).
30% less energy is used to make glass from recycled crushed glass (cullet) versus new resources.
A 74% energy reduction is achieved by reusing steel cans and every tonne of recycled steel cans saves 1.36 tonnes of iron ore.
When scrap iron is used instead of iron ore to make steel, mining wastes are reduced by 97%, air pollution effluents by 80% and water pollution by 76%.
A 33% energy reduction is seen when new products are made from recyclable plastics.
95% less energy is used to make new aluminum cans out of old ones. Recycling just one pop can saves enough energy to power a television for three hours. Throwing away a single aluminum can is like pouring out six ounces of gasoline.
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