December 4th, 2008 · No Comments

The city estimates that the new measures curtailing plastic bags, bottles and cartons will divert more than 10,000 tons of waste from the landfill.

Meanwhile, Toronto also passed a law yesterday requiring businesses to disclose their toxic wastes. Under the new rules, businesses will have to reveal whether they use any of 25 listed hazard wastes. Affected businesses would include auto-body shops, dry cleaners and funeral homes, which use paints, perchloroethylene (dry cleaning fluid) or formaldehyde. These businesses will be listed online along with the chemicals they use.

The law is aimed at letting the city know where toxins are stored, which might be useful in the event of a fire or other emergency, Green said.

But the “right to know” law also could potentially encourage businesses to cut back on the use of toxic chemicals, according to the Canadian Environmental Law Association and others.

“Programs like this in other jurisdictions have led to significant reductions in emissions, usually in the range of a third to a half over a decade,” David McKeown, Toronto’s medical officer of health told the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Next up for Toronto: Four new electric ice resurfacing machines that will replace the old gasoline “Zambonis” as they’re known at city rinks. “It’s emission free and uses less energy” than the old gasoline-powered Zambonis, Green said.

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