Category: Zero Waste

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle only when you can’t do the other two, Right to Repair, lower food waste, refillable containers, support the circular economy.

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Litter Reduction Charter Launch & Signing Event

PAL trash shot

In the summer of 2023, BEA member Bill Godfrey pitched an idea to Brampton City Council that the City should develop a strategy to become the first litter-free city in Canada. Bill is the founder of a local community group, People Against Littering. Since 2019 he and his enthusiastic volunteers have organized and participated in hundreds of clean-up events across the City and have documented picking up over 3,000,000 pieces of litter! Despite these efforts litter remains a persistent problem that is both an eye-sore and a health hazard to visitors and residents alike.

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BEA delegates to Peel Regional Council

Regional Council

The Emerald Energy from Waste facility has been operating in Peel since 1992, initially built and operated by Algonquin Power. The Region cancelled a waste burning contract with Algonquin in 2012 but the facility was sold to Emerald shortly thereafter and has been continuing operations by consuming waste from industrial, commercial and institutional sources.

In 2016, the Region considered building its own waste burning facility but cancelled those plans due to concerns about the pollution a second facility would emit. Instead it embarked on a plan to divert 75% of its waste by 2034, through a combination of improved policies, procedures and, technologies related to waste reduction, reuse, recycling and, composting.

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Your Washing Machine has a Dirty Secret

Woman smelling clothes fresh from the laundry

The smell of clean clothes pulled from the dryer, may rival that of brewing coffee or freshly baked bread as a “comfort” aroma. Of course that excludes clothes that have been soaked in fabric softener or dried with dryer sheets for that is both a personal and an environmental turnoff subject to an article for another day. Beyond that though, we all want to wear freshly laundered clothes. Most of us wear our clothes only once before tossing them in the wash basket. And more than 60% of the clothing we wear is made from synthetic materials derived from fossil fuels. Aka, it’s made of plastic!

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Is Your Community About To Get Burned?

Emerald Energy from waste plant

by: Liz Benneian Ontario Zero Waste Coalition

Incinerator/Waste-to-Energy corporations are once again trying to sell their polluting plants to municipal councils

[Editor’s note: Emerald Energy From Waste, a Brampton based company recently submitted a proposal to the Ontario Government requesting permission to increase its incineration capacity up to 5 times from current levels. Peel Region Council cancelled its contract with Emerald in 2012 meaning the waste burned in the Emerald plant is imported from other municipalities. If allowed to proceed this expanded plant would be the largest mass burn facility in Canada with a capacity to consume 1/3 of all of Ontario’s garbage.]

After years of bad press about failed incineration/waste-to-energy projects, plants polluting their communities, municipal bankruptcies due to “put or pay” contracts, fires at various sites, stiff opposition to new plants from citizens and an end to some lucrative government subsidies, incinerator proponents largely disappeared from the Canadian landscape. Now, however, they are back.

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Brampton Environmental Alliance hosts Annual General Meeting

AGM Announcement Tile

The Brampton Environmental Alliance (BEA) hosted its second annual general meeting this past Wednesday March 13th. Twenty-two individual and organizational members attended along with 9 non-members and 5 guests. Among the guests was Brampton North MPP Graham McGregor who engaged with members at the conclusion of the meeting.

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Brampton to Become the First Litter-free City in Canada!

On June 7th, 2023, Brampton Committee of Council approved a motion directing staff to make Brampton the first litter-free City in Canada. Achieving this objective will be a monumental task involving the entire community.

The Community Safety & Well-Being Office is holding a forum next Tuesday September 19th to raise awareness of the effects of litter, and create a charter with actions for all participants to reduce litter. The Brampton Environmental Alliance has been invited to be a participant along with businesses, conservation authorities, park sponsors, places of worship, government officials, community organizations, and other interested parties.

We would like your feedback on how to solve this unsightly and potentially unhealthy problem in our city. The following survey will take just a few minutes to complete and your answers will help inform our position and suggestions to the group. Please take a minute to complete the survey. It’s anonymous.

Litter survey