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21 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,M ay 27,2021 insidehalton.com PutWaste in its Place 05 27 21 Sorting yourwaste properly canmake a big difference! Let's work together to reduce communitywaste. Not sure how to properly dispose of an item?Use our online PutWaste in its Place tool to quickly and easily find out how to sort yourmaterials. Learnmore athalton.ca/waste or use theOneHalton app. Placematerials at the curb by 7 a.m. on themorning of collection, not the night before. Consider placingmaterials in a clear plastic bag. Place heavier items on top of lighter items and do not overfill your Blue Box. Did youknow that youactually can't recycle… Help reducewind-blown litter Gary Carr Regional Chair This week is Paramedic ServicesWeek, celebrating our team of brave, everyday heroes who help keep Halton safe by providing urgent medical care to residents when they need it most. We are fortunate to have more than 270 paramedics who have gone above and beyond to support our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frommobile testing to mobile vaccination teams in long-term care, retirement homes and essential workplaces, paramedics have played a significant role in protecting our most vulnerable residents. Thank you for your dedication to our community during this time--your efforts have been remarkable. Celebrating Paramedic ServicesWeek Please contact us, as soon as possible, if you have any accessibility needs at Halton Region events or meetings. Meetings at Halton Region Regional Council meetings are taking place through web conferencing until further notice. Videos will be posted to halton.ca. • Batteries • Propane tanks • Needles or sharps • Masks and gloves • Styrofoam • Ceramics • Paper cups • Shredded paper • Food Bring these items to the Household Hazardous Waste Depot, located at the HaltonWaste Management Site. Place these items in the garbage. Place these items in the Green Cart. Protecting our environment is important to me, and I am proud that my resolution to pro- tect our Greenbelt was passed by the Ontario Legislature. Our Greenbelt is vital, but our lakes and streams also need protection -- particularly from plastic pollution. Plastic is something we use in our homes every day. It has many practical uses, but one place it does not belong is in our environment, particularly our lakes and streams. Shockingly, in Ontario, 10,000 tonnes of plastic waste enter our Great Lakes ever year. As well, cleanups show that plastic ac- counts for around 80 per cent of the litter found on Great Lakes shorelines. Microplastics, a term for plastic material less than five millimetres long, are now found in surface water, sediment, fish and birds. They are even in our drinking water, and some water filtrations systems cannot re- move them. Microplastics can also leach harmful dyes and chemicals in- to our water. We all need to be aware of the impact of plastic waste on our environment, and that's why we are doing something about it. A major source of plastic in our waters comes from polysty- rene (commonly called Styro- foam) used to make docks and rafts float. A new Ontario law, Bill 228, will require that all this plastic be completely covered up (en- capsulated) so it will not break down in the water, leaching out chemicals and harming our en- vironment. It's just one major way we are helping keep plastics out of our lakes and streams. In 2019 we established a Pro- vincial Day of Action on Litter, when we encourage Ontarians to raise awareness about the im- pacts of litter and waste and to take action to keep our neigh- bourhoods, parks and water- ways clean. Our Ontario government is also directly funding the remov- al of plastic from our water- ways. In October 2020, we pro- vided funding for Pollution Probe's Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup Initiative by investing $375,000 to help curb plastic problems in our waterways and bring 12 new marinas into the cleanup. People are helping in our community, as well. The Great Lakes Open Water Adventures (GLOW) is now working with the Town of Oakville helping clean plastic out of beaches and parks. Environmental groups such as the Halton Environmen- tal Network, BurlingtonGreen and Oakvillegreen are also working to reduce plastic. We should think globally and acting locally. Together, our col- lective efforts as a community and province will make a differ- ence. Effie Triantafilopoulos is the MPP for Oakville North -- Burlington. She can be reached at effie.triantafilopou- los@pc.ola.org. PLASTICS HAVE NO PLACE IN ONTARIO'S LAKES AND STREAMS OPINION PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT WORKING TO ELIMINATE THIS POLLUTION, WRITES EFFIE TRIANTAFILOPOULOS EFFIE TRIANTAFILOPOULOS Column