Every Tuesday night I come face-to-face with the twin issues of consumption and “sustainable materials management” or the latest buzzword favoured by governments, the “circular economy.” For Tuesday night is Recycling Night. From the bathroom and bedroom, I gather toilet rolls and tissue, envelopes and writing paper. From the kitchen and dining room, I grab […]
Paper, paper, everywhere, and not a scrap to waste Read More »
The good news is that the reported recovery rates for almost every single material category in Ontario’s Blue Box have improved over the last 13 years, some by as much as 20 percentage points. The bad news is that several categories have made very little progress and lag way behind the others, and that the
The good, the bad, and the ugly about Ontario’s Blue Box Read More »
When you crunch the numbers on Canada’s various provincial Blue Box systems, one fact stands out more than any other. The Blue Box is basically a Paper Box, part of a larger feeder supply network for Canadian and other paper recycling mills. Paper’s overwhelming dominance is more obvious, of course, in the many “deposit” provinces
Over 75% of what the Blue Box collects is paper, and it has the highest recovery rates Read More »
There’s just something about paper! Thirteen years of data on what ends up in Ontario homes tells us that Canadians, or at least those who live in Ontario, cannot or do not want to shuck their paper habit, despite all those urgent exhortations to do so. The paper-less home ain’t happening. Well, not yet anyway.
Fewer newspapers but more boxes in the home Read More »
The Toronto Star ran a front page story over the weekend lambasting Ontario’s tire stewardship body (OTS) for spending “thousands of dollars on wine tasting, meals at fine restaurants, a boat cruise, luxury hotels, and donations to political (parties).” The newspaper huffed in its “little piggies at the trough” depiction that OTS was operating without
Pot calling the kettle black? Read More »
The paper packaging industry wants old corrugated boxes banned from landfill. A couple of provinces have already done so (Nova Scotia and PEI) but so far the others (including Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario) have only talked about it. It’s time for action! The environmental benefits are clear. We estimate a ban on old corrugated containers
No good box should go to the dump! Read More »
You\’ve heard of the paperless office. What about the paperless house? Not going to happen, at least, not anytime soon. The weight of paper entering our homes these days is only slightly less than it was 10 years ago. But the types of paper products we use are definitely changing. As we embrace the digital
So much for the paperless house! Read More »
