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20 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday September 15, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Regional Municipality of Halton It's Our Own Garbage The Joint Board under the Consolidated Hearings Act gave approval to Halton Region in 1989 for a new landfill site. Approval under the Environmental Assessment Act was included and a number of conditions were set. Condition 1 of the approval is as follows: For more than a decade, the Regional Municipality of Halton searched for a new landfill site to receive the waste of its citizens. A great deal of money was spent in the search, and residents of two communities felt threatened by the impending decision. In 1987 and 1988 a Hearing was held by the Consolidated Hearing Board established by the Environmental Assessment Board and the Ontario Municipal Board. This Board heard that although the Regional Corporation was responsible for disposing of waste, it was not alone responsible for waste reduction, reuse and recycling measures. This Board also heard that the waste recycling objectives in the Region were modest, being less than 20%. The Board orders, therefore, as its first condition of approval for a new landfill site in the Regional Municipality of Halton, that the Regional Corporation enter into agreements with the Municipalities of the Region to establish a Municipal-Regional Waste Management Committee having as its goal the reduction, recycling and reuse of waste so that there will be very little waste remaining to be landfilled. Through public meetings held at least twice a year the Committee should attempt to reach the goal through measures including but not limited to: a) b) c) d) e) f) paper recycling and denial of landfilling paper products; promotion of individual, private and public composting facilities; provision of glass and metal recycling facilities for residential, apartment and commercial establishment waste, including provision of reception areas for packaging materials at point-of-sale of such materials; development of measures to encourage retail outlets to reduce to the maximum extent possible "disposable" items and packaging materials, including fast-food packaging materials; provision of reception areas for household hazardous wastes, and consideration and development of mandatory recycling programs which include rewards and penalties for compliance and non-compliance. Once each year the Regional Municipality shall report on the participation of area Municipalities and the extent of cooperation and progress on the work of this Committee in full-page advertisements in the newspapers having general circulation in each of the Region's constituent Municipalities, under the headline "IT'S OUR OWN GARBAGE", and is to include this condition in full at the beginning of such advertisement. JOINT MUNICIPAL - REGIONAL WASTE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE The Committee is composed of members residing in the municipalities of Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton and Oakville and has as its goal the promotion of the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), in order to minimize the amount of garbage landfilled, and was established to satisfy the above Condition. Under the guidance of the Committee, the following programs have been established: · Solid Waste Management Strategy implementation: "WasteLess" Program focusing on waste reduction by encouraging Grasscycling, Backyard Composting, and Green-shopping Subsidized Sale of Backyard Composters "BlueMax" Program to enhance Blue Box Recycling Program with addition of Polycoat containers School Recycling Program · · · Salvation Army Reuse Depot Enhanced Communications Program, including Calendar and Newsletter Household Hazardous Waste Depot including: Paint Exchange Program Household Battery Recycling Program Addition of fluorescent lights Special Environmental Events Compost Give-Aways Tire Amnesty Day Environment Day GreenCart Demonstration Program · Cellphone, Printer Cartridge and Eyeglass Recycling Program · · Rural Roadside Recycling Collection Program · Blue Boxes delivered to new subdivisions · Foam and Electronics Recycling Program · The Joint Committee meetings are open to the public. Public input and participation in the development of programs is encouraged. MATERIAL DIVERTED IN 2005 BY THE RESIDENTS OF HALTON REGION Total diversion from landfill by ALL Waste Reduction initiatives was 84,936 tonnes (42.6% Waste Diversion). 37,967 vehicles brought in 684,744 litres and 91,645 kilograms of household hazardous material to our HHW Depot. Total residential waste landfilled at the Halton Waste Management Site was 114,217 tonnes. A Report describing compliance with all the Conditions of Approval under the Environmental Assessment Act is available for review. To obtain a copy of this report or if you have any comments or suggestions, please contact: Halton Region Waste Management Services 1151 Bronte Road Oakville, ON L6M 3L1 905-825-6000 Toll free: 1-866-4HALTON (1-866-442 -5866) 1151 Bronte Road, Oakville, Ontario L6M 3L1 · Tel: 905-825-6000 · Toll Free: 1-866-4HALTON · TTY: 905-827-9833 · www.halton.ca