Environment committee  Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to provide a submission today. As background, the Ontario Waste Management Association is a not-for-profit industry trade association. We represent over 300 private and public sector members who manage roughly 85% of the waste i

Environment committee  We have not, to my knowledge.

Environment committee  Certainly, as I said at the beginning, we have organizations that are from the private sector, and we represent roughly 70 municipalities as well. So there are certainly differences in perspectives depending on where those members are coming from. We have folks on our board who o

Environment committee  I think the industry as a whole understands that it needs to change, and it wants to change, and it's about getting those right conditions in place to make sure things can move forward in a sustainable manner.

Environment committee  When you're managing any type of waste, whether it's dealing with recyclable materials or disposing of hazardous materials, there's obviously risk associated with it. There are always risks involved with that waste. That's why we always talk about the need for rigorous environmen

Environment committee  There are lots of different types of approaches to dealing with the issue of that price differential. It may very well depend on the type of material you're talking about. Let me give you an example: 99% of the vehicles in Ontario are recycled. The problem with vehicles is there

Environment committee  That's a government decision. We've certainly been trying to put forward research to look at the economic opportunity with recycling those materials. Again, I think as you look at each material, and how far you want to recycle it, the government needs to weigh that, based on that

Environment committee  It's probably a little bit of a stretch, but I'll provide the example of seat belts. Seat belts are a requirement in vehicles. We require companies to have seat belts in vehicles. Vehicle companies innovate. They figure out the best way to put those seat belts in the car, and t

Environment committee  There is some government oversight, but essentially, those bodies work completely unhindered by any government control.

Environment committee  They still have to have audited statements that come out. But sure, there surely are lots of ways for them to hide money and move it around. I think that has always been the concern. The concern, bluntly, from the waste management industry, is that we've gone from a system in

Environment committee  In Ontario it's a problem, to some degree, with how the legislation was written back in 2002. But it should very well be a federal issue. As I said in my remarks, when you're looking at one organization charging $115 million annually on electronics purchases across the country,

Environment committee  Again, I think I talked about scrap yards a little bit earlier. Scrap yards are probably a good example. Ontario is in the process right now of providing an environmental standard for how vehicles need to be dismantled and recycled. There is no standard right now, so there are pl

Environment committee  Just really quickly, I'll follow up on Emmie's point. Just so people are aware, in Ontario right now, to ship waste, the tipping fee in Michigan is sub-$10. That just gives you an idea of some of the differential fees for waste versus recycling. With regard to StatsCan, their da

Environment committee  They are certainly well aware of this, but there just haven't been the resources or the intention to deal with those issues.

Environment committee  Maybe I'll start off. Certainly if you look across Europe, you will see that there are obviously other motivators happening there. But if you look at a number of different jurisdictions in Europe—the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands—you will see that there are lo