“As other cities target plastic water bottles, Toronto is taking a broad look at a variety of packaging materials – including bottles – to cut down on its waste going to landfill.
Mayor David Miller said the bottled water policy is part of the city’s overall goal of diverting 70 per cent of waste from the dump by 2010.”
Read the Toronto Star’s full article…
Plastic water bottles on city hit list
Perhaps instead of targeting end users, the consumer, already overloaded with rules, regulations and an array of confusing/conflicting information, it is time to start tackling the source…the manufacturers, corporations and marketers that create these products. This is where the greatest impact will be created and waste diverted. Ultimately it is not the consumer that is creating the waste!
Oh…and 70% of the waste in Toronto is commercial!
Simply Stephen,
Thanks for the comments, but I think this would be a policy going nowhere.
We have good evidence backing that up because the goal of making industry pay for their environmental sins has been the central rallying cry of environmentalists for a long time.
The fact is it simply WON’T happen unless consumers give signals that you cannot make money from being environmentally destructive.
As soon as government imposes some costs that makes those products more expensive, industry will be FORCED to follow in line because there will be a huge ‘buck’ to be made for green products.
It’s just the simple reality of the situation. Making industry pay exclusively would be nice, but it will always be fantasy.