Environment Haliburton’s Susan Hay said there were three main items volunteers collected during a litter clean-up at Head Lake Park May 9 – cigarette butts, plastic drink containers and coffee cups.
A dozen people collected six large bags of garbage from the park in advance of Ontario’s Day of Action on Litter, which happened May 12. Hay said it was an eye-opening experience for her.
“I walked through the park on Friday with a friend and I thought to myself it didn’t look too bad, that there wasn’t much litter. But once we got down to the lake shore and the ditches, there was a significant amount of garbage,” Hay said. “In an hour, we must have picked up more than 500 cigarette butts.”
With drink containers also high on the list, the Hays are calling on the provincial government to expand deposit returns in Ontario.
“It would be a win against littering – keeping billions of bottles and cans from piling up in our parks, neighbourhoods and overflowing our landfills,” Susan said, noting Ontario’s current recycling system only captures 43 per cent of all used beverage containers.
By establishing a deposit system, she believes those numbers could climb as high as 90 per cent.
“A recent poll by Environmental Defence found that 81 per cent of Ontarians want a deposit return system for nonalcoholic beverage containers,” Susan said. “It’s estimated that 1.7 billion plastic drink bottles have ended up in landfills, incinerators and the environment over the past year.”
She said Ontario is one of two provinces in Canada without a comprehensive deposit return system for all drinks containers.
“As a result, we have the worst beverage container recycling rate in the country,” Susan said. “We need Ontario to regulate a fair and convenient deposit return system that ensures strong environmental outcomes and prioritizes ease of use and convenient access.”
While returns for alcoholic beverages have long been accepted at Beer Store locations provincewide, the closure of the Haliburton shop last November has left people in the village without a local drop-off. The closest return sites are the Beer Store locations in West Guilford and Minden.
As of Jan. 1, grocery stores across Ontario that sell booze were supposed to be ready to accept empty alcohol containers, but the province handed down an exemption, said Haliburton Foodland’s Brad Park.
“It would have been a nightmare for me to try to figure out how and where to do it,” Park said.
With nowhere to drop off in Haliburton, Park felt that it could open the door for one of the community’s service clubs to take on collection – something he feels could be a good revenue generator. Containers one litre or less can be returned for 10 cents, with anything over one litre paying 20 cents.
Asked if there was anything coming for Haliburton residents enabling them to dispense empties in the village, MPP Laurie Scott was noncommittal.
“The Beer Store is responsible for the Ontario Deposit Return Program for alcoholic beverages until at least 2031… they are working to add new return partner and explore locations across Ontario to join the recycling program,” Scott said.
On a broader return program for all drinks containers, Scott indicated there was nothing forthcoming.
“I spoke to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks and together we continue to look for ways to improve on our recycling system and advance our circular economy. Our focus remains on keeping costs low for people and businesses,” Scott said. “As we work to improve recycling rates, Ontario’s existing recycling system will continue to provide a strong foundation to build on.”
