Lisa Mychajluk Senior Policy…

Lisa Mychajluk Senior Policy Advisor Ministry of the Environment Waste Management Policy Branch 135 St Clair Avenue West, Floor 7 Toronto Ontario M4V 1P5 July 26, 2007 Re: EBR Registry number 010-0420 Dear Ms Mychajluk On behalf of Oxford County, I am submitting these comments on the Policy Statement on Waste Management Planning: Best Practices for Waste Managers, EBR #010-0420. The Ministry should be congratulated on its effort to begin taking a proactive role in waste management; this demonstrates that there is recognition of the situations and problems that municipalities have to deal with. The following are comments and recommendations to enhance the current draft of the Policy Statement, to make it an effective tool for all waste managers. General Comments This policy statement provides for some guidance on waste management planning. However, it highlights the absence of an overall provincial (MOE) strategy on waste management. There is a need for the province to develop a provincial long term policy on waste management (based on and following the principals outlined in Part II of the policy statement) to provide the necessary parameters for municipal long term planning on waste management program delivery. There are numerous references and statements on reaching the provincial 60% waste diversion goal in the policy statement. However, this has not been official accepted, defined or approved by the province. The province has to officially adopt a waste diversion goal, as part of a provincial waste management strategy. There is no indication what the actual requirement of municipalities will be if this policy statement is accepted. Will municipalities be required to develop long term waste management plans? What will be the implications if municipalities choose not to? Specific Section Comments Part I Introduction The purpose for the document is defined and laid out, however there are some questions that need to be addressed for clarification: The provincial expectation for waste management is not clearly defined. The expectation is that municipalities develop long term waste management (WM) plans, but there is no encompassing provincial guidance laid out as to what the common goals, expectations and priority areas are. There will not be more consistent and timely waste management planning across the province without a provincial strategy to provide a foundation for municipal planning. The role of the Industrial, Commercial, Institutional (ICI) sectors has to be more clearly defined and included in a provincial strategy. Municipal WM planning is limited in the ICI sector; this is an area that requires provincial guidance. The province should accept greater responsibility for a failure to adequately plan for effective waste management infrastructure as a lack of provincial leadership in waste management has resulted in fractured and uncoordinated municipal efforts in waste management planning and program delivery. oIt is not practical to expect municipalities to develop long term (25 year) waste management plans when there is no provincial strategy, focus or guidance on waste management issues. This results in municipalities guessing on major components of waste management systems that may or may not be applicable, viable or in context of some provincial announcement, undertaking or direction. Part II Framework for Waste Management Decisions There is a need for a provincial waste management plan. The framework should form the basis of a provincial waste management strategy. As presented, the framework is beyond the scope of municipal waste management planning. There is a need for broad policy direction at the provincial level to identify overall waste management needs, setting waste diversion goal(s), engaging the ICI sector, promoting extended producer responsibility (EPR), and encouraging greater municipal cooperation in waste management. The waste management principals presented are good and need to be considered in municipal planning. However, as presented, many of them are beyond the scope of municipal jurisdiction and would be of little value on their own in the municipal planning context. These have to be applied at a provincial level and scoped down to make them more relevant to municipalities. The Waste Value Chain is more applicable at the provincial than municipal level. The roles and responsibilities (R&R) section is useful, but should be revised to include: oThe province to develop a provincial waste management strategy/direction. oRemove the word Fund from the last point under Municipalities R&R, especially given, as stated on pg 6 of the document, that the Waste Diversion Act is supposed to promote EPR. oIncorporate the Public and Environmental Groups R&Rs into one. Part III: Guidelines for Developing a Municipal Waste Management Plan This should be a separate and stand alone document for Municipalities and finalized after a provincial waste management strategy has been developed. •The guidelines provide relevant direction but do require some adjustment in scoping to make them relevant to all municipalities. There should be a requirement to base the planning on shorter time frames, for example 3 to 5 years, within the context of a 25 year plan. What guidance material will the Ministry develop to assist Municipalities? Also if the Ministry intends to develop guidance materials a time frame has to be included. The Strategic Directions laid out and described are useful, but would be more applicable to a municipal planning undertaking within the context of a provincial waste management strategy. The Scope of Municipal Waste Management Plans is inclusive but requires some modification: oWhy is there a separate biosolids section? All that is required is to have the last paragraph in the biosolids section incorporated in the Municipal Waste section. The timing for plan development and implementation is too short. The timeframe should be within 5 years to allow for proper plan development. The differentiation based on large and small is very broad and should be further refined. Also will this be based on population of plan coverage or individual municipalities within a planning area? Should there not be allowances made for municipalities in the north as was done with Regulation 101? The planning period should incorporate short term (3-5 year) planning within the 20 to 25 year planning horizon. The Minimum Recommended Plan Content is useful, but there are clarifications required in some of the elements: Goals and objectives are difficult to define within the planning horizon outlined without a stated and accepted provincial goal and waste management strategy. The province may have to define planning areas or work with municipalities to ensure that practical study area are utilized. There has to be recognition of the limitations and subjectivity to the waste management data collected by the WDO/Provincial Datacall and MPMP reporting. Each have different definitions as to the data and do not incorporate all the waste management efforts by municipal programs. Projecting waste management needs over the planning period and a Diversion Strategy are difficult to work on without a provincial waste management strategy in place. oAsking municipalities to develop detailed long term cost and financing will be onerous as well as an exercise in futility. In long term planning detailed financial planning is difficult all that can be accurately detailed is relative costs. Detailed costs can only be accurately detailed at most in a 5 year time frame. The public consultation element will be overly onerous for municipalities as defined. Saying that there has to be public consultation with neighboring communities, or communities that material passes through to reach a disposal facility is unreasonable for a municipality to undertake. Public consultation has to be incorporated in the planning process, but should not be a barrier to plan development. What is meant that Municipal council should approve all waste management plans? What if council does not approve plans? There has to be clear direction on this either council has to approve and abide by the plan or this should be a strictly staff undertaking for the municipality or program.

[Original Comment ID: 103620]