Works and Utilities Meeting
October 26, 1998
The City of Toronto Works and Utilities Committee met October 26, 1998 to discuss the Minister of Environment's proposed $700,000 financial contribution for Blue Box collection of LCBO wine and spirit containers. This $700,000 was the City's share of a one-time $4 million contribution to Ontario municipalities from the LCBO to help offset the cost of collecting and processing LCBO containers via Blue Box.
City politicians want the LCBO containers out of the Blue Boxes, because handling them costs $1 million a year. "Giving us $700,000 is a short-term bribe," said Councillor Judy Sgro after the meeting.
Officially, however, the meeting never happened. This is because only 5 of 11 committee members were in attendance. Six are needed. "This means there's not enough interest from the members of the committee to change the direction that council's heading in" said the committee's chairman, Councillor Betty Disero.
Council's current direction is to:
- Maintain its course to ban LCBO wine and spirit containers from landfill
- Pursue the city-wide implementation of a deposit-return system at LCBO retail outlets
- Proceed with a communication and public relations campaign to inform Toronto residents of the deposit-return by-law, effective Jan.1, 1999
To reflect the structure of the new by-law, LCBO stores will get notices in November telling them that they need to have a deposit-return system in place to qualify for a business license. Violators of the by-law would be dealt with through a "notice of violation" and possible legal action. The courts would determine fine amounts.
Click here to view the Citizens' Network on Waste Management's letter to the Works & Utilities Committee regarding the October 26 meeting.
