Welcome to
the Compost Council of Canada
website

Remove Compost from Ontario's EcoFee program
requests Compost Council of Canada

"Compost should never have been included in Ontario's Household
Hazardous Waste Program in the first place"

Toronto - July 27, 2010 - There never was a good environmental reason for compost to be included in Ontario's EcoFee program. And with Ontario advising that the Orange Drop/Stewardship Ontario program is to be reviewed and the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario's acknowledgement of compost advocates' concerns in his special report, Getting it Right, released today, the opportunity exists for a thoughtful process to prevail where compost is exempted from a program whose primary purpose "is to divert hazardous household wastes from landfills or sewers."

"Compost is neither hazardous nor special waste," declared Susan Antler, Executive Director, The Compost Council of Canada. "While we respect the need to develop a sustainable and effective household hazardous waste program for Ontario, there is no valid scientific or environmental justification to include compost in such a program. Compost should be fully used for the benefit of soil health and productivity rather being taken back to a household hazardous waste collection site for wasteful disposal."

The Council welcomes the opportunity to work with the Honourable Minister Gerretsen, Waste Diversion Ontario and Stewardship Ontario to reconsider the fertilizer definition as well as the focus of the fertilizer collection and promotion program to ensure that the intent of Ontario's household hazardous waste program as well as the future benefits to our environment are achieved.

- 30 -

For more information, please contact:
Susan Antler
The Compost Council of Canada
416 535 0240
www.compost.org

July 1, 2010

As of July 1st, compost will be designated as a product under the Municipal Hazardous and Special Waste (MHSW) program in Ontario. Specifically, the implicated products in this MHSW initiative are bagged compost products that are made from animal manure (eg. cattle, sheep, horse, worms, etc.) and compost products whose labels talk about compost's value as a growing medium.

What this means for the consumer is that he/she will likely need to pay an eco-fee of 13 cents/bag of compost (a penny per kilogram) to pay for the Municipal Hazardous and Special Waste collection program in Ontario. The thirteen cents will be paid into the government-approved and -designated agency, Stewardship Ontario, to cover the range of fixed and variable costs associated with hazardous and special waste management programs across Ontario.

There is no good environmental reason for compost to be part of a program whose primary purpose "is to divert hazardous household wastes from landfills or sewers."

Compost's inclusion in this program has absolutely nothing to do with the quality, performance or its' useful benefit.

• June 23, 2009 - The Inappropriateness of Implicating Compost
  
within the Currently-Proposed MHSW Fertilizer Definition


• July 20, 2009 - Draft Final Consolidated MHSW Plan -
  
Comments pertaining to Fertilizer Plan


• August 30, 2009 - Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste
  
Program Plan: EBR Registry # 010-7325


• May 17, 2010 - e-Lert of May 10, 2010 & Fertilizer Exemption Discussions

With so much work still needing to be done to integrate organics residuals recycling as part of everyday action across our country, it is a shame that so much attention and effort has had to be diverted to an issue that should never have arisen nor become reality.

For more information, please contact The Compost Council of Canada @ 1 877 571 GROW(4769) or email info@compost.org.