The Ontario government is yet again considering changes to how recycling programs in this province run.
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programs → consider → province
This has, alas, become something of a recurring theme.
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This → become → theme
Recycling shouldn’t be as complicated as Ontario makes it.
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Ontario → make → it
I’m not saying it’s simple.
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it → say → ?
Recycling collection — from residences, industries, or commercial properties — involves a mixture of materials, and many of them need to be sorted and processed differently from one another.
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many → involve → one
Non-recyclables must be filtered out.
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recyclables → filter → ?
This all requires sorting and transporting.
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This → require → sorting
It’s complicated.
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It → ’ → ?
But complexity on the back end need not be mirrored by complexity at the front.
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complexity → mirror → front
We really need to figure out just two basic things here: What is recyclable, and who pays to recycle it?
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who → need → it
The first one is a matter of deciding when expense outweighs benefits.
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expense → decide → benefits
But the latter point is proving strangely dicey for the Ford government.
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point → prove → government
Should recycling be handled on a public basis, by municipalities via service fees or taxes?
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recycling → handle → fees
Should it be outsourced to a private company, also paid for via taxes and fees?
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it → outsource → taxes
Or should Ontario continue on its current path, which saw the private companies responsible for most recyclable waste in this province — namely, big-box stores — being forced to fund the creation of a third party that oversees recycling at no direct cost to the taxpayer?
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that → continue → taxpayer
This model is known as “producer pays”; the organizations are called producer responsibility organizations, or PROs.
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organizations → know → pays
I’m probably supposed to have a strong opinion on this.
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I → suppose → this
My hometown just came through a mayoral campaign that saw a surprising amount of discussion about the optimal ownership of the water system.
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that → come → system
People can get pretty worked up about this stuff.
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People → get → stuff
I don’t.
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I → do → ?
I do not care who picks up what I toss into my blue bin or how they are paid.
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they → care → bin
None of my broader economic or ideological priors are wrapped up in that.
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None → wrap → that
We should approach this from the perspective of basic first principles.
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We → approach → principles
Ontarians generate household waste that must be dealt with.
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that → generate → waste
We don’t want to throw it all into landfills and incinerators, so we wish to divert as much of it as we feasibly can to recycling.
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we → want → recycling
This is agreed upon.
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This → agree → ?
The issue, as ever, is that it is expensive, and no one wants to pay for it.
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one → want → it
The provincial government moved the blue bins to PROs in recent years because the costs of operating the municipal programs were growing and the municipalities wanted them off the books.
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municipalities → move → books
That would have been bad for the environment, and the province didn’t want that headache.
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province → want → headache
That’s how we ended up here.
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we → ’ → ?
The PROs allowed the nominally conservative Ford government to pass off a tax on the private sector as an environmentally friendly measure that would also save taxpayers money (as if they wouldn’t end up paying for it anyway).
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they → allow → it
The problem Ontario immediately ran into, a very predictable one, is that the same things that were driving up the costs of the programs for municipalities are also driving them up for the PROs.
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that → run → PROs
The volume of materials is going up.
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volume → go → materials
The diversity of the materials eligible for the program is increasing.
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diversity → increase → program
So the PROs face the same issue as the municipalities.
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PROs → face → municipalities
They either need to charge more, and that gets passed onto the public, or they need to do less, by excluding some items from recycling or putting caps on how much people can recycle.
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people → need → much
The Ford government is considering both options.
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government → consider → options
Here’s an idea: let’s just pay what it costs to run a good program.
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it → ’ → program
Via taxes, via fees, via industry contributions — I don’t care.
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I → care → contributions
The Ford government can spend from now till eternity trying to escape the fact that doing important things costs money that has to be raised somehow, or it can treat Ontarians like adults, pick a system, explain it and be honest that costs might rise.
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costs → spend → it
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
