Wawa-news.com You can't hear the 'big picture'!
NDP MPP Ian Arthur, the Official Opposition critic for the Environment and Sustainability, will lay out the details of his comprehensive private member’s bill, which calls on Ontario to ban single-use, throw-away plastics this morning. “Our landfills are piled high with plastic garbage that will take generations to degrade, and our lakes and rivers — and waters around the world — are polluted with straws, bags and wrappers,” said Ian Arthur, the NDP critic for the Environment and Sustainability. “Ontarians know we have to do better, and they’re stepping up to do their part by making smart choices, like using reusable bags, but we need corporations and manufacturers to be required to do their part, too. Putting the burden on families alone while corporations just keep churning out throw-away plastics is missing the forest for the trees, and our children will pay the price.”
The province is inviting public feedback on proposals to reduce plastic litter and waste, diversion and reduction food and organic waste from households and businesses. A discussion paper has been posted on the Environment Registry for a 45-day period. Rod Phillips Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, addressed the Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) Annual General Meeting, outlining the release of the paper and highlighting the importance of ongoing collaboration and consultation with municipalities to ensure our waste reduction and diversion goals are achieved.
“We know that Ontarians want to do their part to reduce litter and waste, whether at home, at work or on the go,” said Rod Phillips, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. “There are so many great ideas out there in the province that we want to build on to reduce waste, divert more of it away from landfills and get our diversion rate moving in the right direction again.” epladdressed the Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) Annual General Meeting.
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If the government, Ian Arthur and anyone else who is genuinely interested in reducing plastic waste wish to change the status quo, they must use common sense. I spend much of my time in Wawa during the summer. My family has been coming back to Wawa since 1982. My wife and I are disgusted with the sheer number of plastic water bottles that litter not only the highways, but pretty much any place we choose to explore, including what should be pristine lakes. We have never made a habit of purchasing bottled water. In all likelihood our generation would have been amused by the notion that one could fill a plastic bottle with water, and the public would buy it. But then again, my car now reminds me if I am driving on the wrong side of the road, as I am constantly reminded by overhead highway signs to stay alert, share the road and keep a safe distance. (Scratch the last one. My car now looks after that as it brakes itself.)Where were the experts, when companies were granted permits to pursue the bottled water business? Yet, I now am required to ask the server in a restaurant for a plastic straw as these are being banned out of existence. As always, big business and those individuals who control them, including the government lobbyists who pass legislation to support them will continue to have their way with a “dumbed down” public. They will continue to look for ridiculous solutions to what should be solvable environmental problems. I likely have too much time on my hands, since retirement, as I slow down and look at things from a sane perspective. But then again, if I could only come up with an environmentally sound manner to “bag” that cool, crisp unpolluted Wawa air, I am almost certain I could find a market down here in the south.