January 15, 2018…

January 15, 2018
Ian Drew, Senior Policy Advisor
Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
Climate Change and Environmental Policy Division
Resource Recovery Policy Branch
40 St. Clair Avenue West, Floor 8,
Toronto, ON M4V 1M2
Mr. Drew,
Re: Food and Organic Waste Framework, EBR 013-1814
On behalf of Ontario Nature, I am writing to express our support for the direction of the proposed Food and Organic Waste Framework and to urge the government to move forward quickly with implementation.

Better management of organic waste will have many benefits - less waste to dispose, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, healthier soil to grow food, and healthier soil to absorb carbon. The growth in the organics management sector will also lead to direct benefits in terms of local green jobs, and green energy from biogas generation.
We support policy statements and regulations to get food and organic waste out of the garbage: to prevent wasted food, to require organics diversion, and to ban the disposal of this valuable resource in landfill, incinerator and/or other thermal treatment facility. We also support the targets and requirements for organics collection and diversion for all Ontario municipalities, for multi-residential buildings, and for the Industrial, Commercial & Institutional (IC&I) sector.
Ensuring that all Ontario residents living in houses and in multi-residential buildings, have organics collection at home is crucial to diverting thousands of tonnes of valuable resources from disposal, as organics make up an average of one third of residential waste, and even more in multi-residential buildings.
Ontario’s IC&I sector has inconsistent, and unacceptably poor waste practices, with only an estimated 13 percent of waste diverted from landfill. Requirements for Ontario businesses to do their part and create food waste reduction plans, divert organics from disposal, and report on their organics management will have a dramatic impact on creating a circular green economy.
Please move quickly to implement the framework, with an emphasis on preventing food waste through education, better labelling and the redistribution of surplus food.
Yours truly,

Dr. Anne Bell
Director of Conservation and Education
Ontario Nature

[Original Comment ID: 211986]