Council direction regarding further work on plastic packaging reduction policies
Council directed staff to defer further work on policies and by-law development related to plastic take-out food containers and hot drink cups until the changes to the Waste Diversion Act, 2002, and the Blue Box Program Plan are announced by the Minister of the Environment, and staff can assess the impact on Toronto’s strategy for plastic take-out food containers and hot drink cups. View details regarding 2009 City
Council Decision.
Retail plastic shopping bags must be recyclable effective June 1, 2010
Retailers and customers, please mark the date. As of June 1, 2010, all plastic shopping bags provided to customers must be recyclable in Toronto's recycling program. The bylaw calls for a ban on incompatible bags (e.g., biodegradable or compostable plastic bags, plastic bags with metal detailing or grommets, rope or hard plastic handles).
Biodegradable plastic packaging and bags present recycling challenges
The majority of Ontario municipalities, including the City of Toronto, do not want biodegradable plastic packaging, including biodegradable plastic bags, in their recycling or organics programs for a number of reasons. They belong in the garbage. Read further about the
challenges biodegradable products present.
Experts' reports help inform next steps for policy on reduction and recycling of hot drink cups
Independent experts were retained by the City to assist staff and industry members of the Hot Drink Cup Taskforce to understand issues impacting on the goal to reduce and recycle hot drink cups within the framework of Toronto's recycling program. The areas of research included end-markets assessment; processing equipment and material recovery facility (MRF) assessment; and behaviour change. The following reports are now available:
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Reducing our dependence on disposable products
As of June 1, 2009, and continuing over the next two years, retailers will be required to implement a range of options to enable customers to make positive environmental choices and reduce their use of single-use container packaging by taking advantage of convenient reusable alternatives. Find out more about how, as a consumer and as a Toronto retailer, you can
help reduce the volume of plastic shopping bags.
Toronto's packaging waste reduction forum
On September 10, 2008 the City of Toronto hosted a
forum designed to bring together stakeholders to discuss source reduction of packaging - with a particular focus on packaging applied at the point of purchase.
