Toronto: Days before a City Council Committee will review a new city plan to deal with Toronto's waste woes, a new report shows the solutions are literally all around us.
Alfred noted that over 85% of what's in our garbage isn't actually garbage and can be diverted from landfill using existing city programs. This is one of the interesting facts in a new report released by the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) called Zero Waste Toronto.
Mayfair on the Green, a condominium in Scarborough that reduced the waste sent to landfill by 95%, thanks to a committed condo board and building superintendent who are using existing city waste diversion programs.
Second Harvest, which collected over 3,700 tonnes of unwanted food from restaurants, stores and warehouses and delivered it to food banks and shelters across Toronto.
The Furniture Bank, which collected more than 61,000 pieces of used furniture and gave them to 7,600 families in need.
Existing City of Toronto waste diversion programs which, if properly used, could single handedly cut what we send to landfill from 500,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes every year.
The report can be found online at www.torontoenvironment.org/zerowaste.