Are Coffee Cups Next?

With the assault on disposable plastic bags in full effect, a common criticism is that we are unfairly picking on the plastic bag industry while other (arguably) bigger and badder bits of refuse get a free pass to landfill heaven. All in good time, my friends — we’re getting to them. The city of Toronto, for example, has now widened their sights to include not just plastic bags and take-out containers, but even the nefariously ubiquitous disposable coffee cup.

As part of Toronto’s plan to be diverting 70 per cent of its garbage from landfill by 2010, the city is examining ways to limit items that have a bad reputation for filling up landfills.

“They may not be very heavy, but they take up a lot of space,” said Geoff Rathbone, general manager of Toronto’s solid waste department.

The aim of all this is to increase the garbage diversion rate from the current 42 per cent – a move that would extend the life of the city’s Green Lane landfill, near London, Ont. Some regions, like Durham and York, are moving toward incineration as a solution to waste that can’t be recycled, but Toronto remains committed to landfills.

The proposals, being pushed by Toronto Councilor Howard Moscoe, include options for an outright ban, a tax or levy on the products in question, or even a deposit-return incentive program. Which will prevail? No one is sure yet, if any, but city waste managers are currently in meetings with successful policy setters from across North America to work on developing some new potential strategies. Whatever the outcome, don’t worry about plastic bag fighters “missing the big picture” by not going after other sources of trash overflow. We’re coming for them, too. All in good time.

Photo via Flickr!

Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 12:49 pm and is filed under The Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.