• Pitching plans for waste disposal [ Toronto Star ]
• Extent of need shocks volunteers [ Toronto Star ]
• A shorter winter means friskier felines, trouble for shelters [ Globe and Mail ]
• Warming enough for you? [ Globe and Mail ]
• T.O.’s snow hot news [ Toronto Sun ]
Friday’s headlines
Read more articles by Monika Warzecha
4 comments
The food bank is the hero in this city.I remember when Gerard Kennedy ran the show when “the bank” was at the foot of spadina.It stunned me at the variety of different people that used the bank and how that need has grown.In spite of the millions that the city government and other levels spend on homeless and needy.At last count that was in the area of $50,000 or more per person.But when will it all end?
Happy New Year to my friends who live below poverty and are usually forgotten except for the few weeks of christmas.I hope it will be a mild winter…..
This story just proves that the City’s plan for waste is really more about reducing landfill than making a meaningful contribution to the earth. Recycling Styrofoam makes it OK again and that is a bad idea. Never mind that Styrofoam is an oil product and requires energy to make and recycle. We should be reducing plastic packaging at source.
Scott, if you take that logic one step further and assume that the City is only taking action out of financial self-interest, why would it want to continue paying to recycle that material?
That scenario aside, I think the majority of city council wants to make “a meaningful contribution to the earth.” In this case it’s evidenced by the many motions it has adopted and letters it has written to the provincial and federal governments on legislating an end to excessive packaging. Unfortunately, council doesn’t have the power to legislate away over-packaging.
Because they are stuck with it and can get out of it.
On a lot of levels recycling, as good as it makes us feel, is not really an earth friendly idea. For example, the amount of paper junk mail that I get is probably 4 times what it was 10 years ago..why? Partially I think because of paper recycling. Bottled water? Why should we pay for recycling plastic water bottles in massive numbers (when water is almost free out of a tap) when we could spend that money on better city friendly ideas ? I am all for “reuse” but retailers and customers should not just be able to pass the cost of recycling on to everybody; that is just passing the responsibility buck. And of course I know that the City has limited power but it still has some clout.
But to your point, is reducing the cost more important to the city than environmental issues? Yes I think it is and that doesn’t make them bad or evil, its just the reality of running a strapped city