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Trash Talk: Toronto City Hall loses to Lobbyists 4

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(Photo by markolson on Flikr)

Trash Talk is a special section where we expose the unnecessary waste that is generated by companies so that the urban country staff and readers can speak out to make a difference.

March 17th marks a crucial blow to the credibility of Toronto City Hall in its battle against Food industry lobbyists. It was only 4 months ago when Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker sent a stern message to lobbyists: “The status quo is going to change, and it can’t change soon enough for me”.

Back then, the City had plans to force coffee shops to give consumers a 20-cent refund for bringing their own coffee mugs, and grocery stores would likewise be required to provide a 10-cent refund for each bag saved by customers bringing in their own grocery bags.

Both of those initiatives have all but vanished. The plan for the grocery bag refund was overturned when a deal was worked out between the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors and the City on November 26th. Instead of enforcing a 10-cent refund, they decided to CHARGE customers 5 cents per bag to encourage customers to bring their own bags.

Talk about the tables turning! The grocery stores are now entitled to a windfall profit when a day earlier, they faced the prospect of having to dish out money to customers who bring their own bags. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about consumers bringing their own bags to the grocery store, I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember, but come on City Hall! Have a backbone!

March 17th put the nail in the coffin. After spending $50,000 on three reports on how to handle coffee cups, the City scrapped plans to complete the final report on how to better deal with the 1-million coffee cups that Toronto sends to its landfills every single day.

Now the city is out thousands of dollars, we’re left without a strategy to deal with coffee cup trash, and the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association lobby group has come out victorious.

If you can’t rely on the government to be progressive about the Environment, you just have to do it yourself. It’s cool to bring your own coffee mug! It’s hip to bring your own reusable grocery bags! This is an Urban Country revolution!

4 thoughts on “Trash Talk: Toronto City Hall loses to Lobbyists

  1. Anonymous Mar 27,2009 3:54 am

    PEOPLE SHOULD BE ABLE TO BRING THEIR OWN BAGS AND GET A CERTAIN PERCENT OFF FOR IT.WHEN YOU RECEIVE A PAPER BAG ITS MORE EXPENSIVE THEN PLASTIC WHICH WE ALL KNOW.TO ALOT OF PEOPLE IT CAN SEEM A SMALL ISSUE BUT THE SIMPLE FACT IS THAT IF YOU DONT ALEAST STAND UP FOR THE SMALL THINGS,THEN YOU WONT HAVE THE GUTS TO STAND UP FOR THE BIG THINGS.

  2. Michelle Mar 27,2009 5:36 pm

    It would make sense if people could bring there own bags…plastic should be banned…paper can be burned or thrown away and will not ruin our world

  3. boyan Mar 27,2009 10:13 pm

    Don’t even get me started on the grocery bag “flip-flop”! Talk about how the consumer gets screwed, once again, while the corporation wins, once again. Makes my blood boil.

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