Edition 6: August 2007

Manager’s Notes

As we embark on a fourth year of operation, the E&E Fund continues to receive new project applications projects and to wrap up some of the work that has been in progress over the past several months. To that end, in early July, MIPC accepted the final report of the KPMG team in the Recycling Best Practices Assessment and Enhancement Project. This two volume report is now available online and will soon be translated to new learning tools on the Recyclers’ Knowledge Network.

 To date, we have posted 28 E&E Fund project reports and expect another 10 to be available soon. Most projects and their reports deal with “better” and “best” practices to some degree – to the extent that each is or has been focused on finding solutions to a problem or making a good system work even better. This issue of In-the-Loop focuses on projects that promise to create further efficiencies and increase recycling effectiveness by testing new practices and technologies and sharing knowledge. As always, we’d welcome your questions and comments on these or any other topics. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Geoff Love: glove@stewardshipontario.ca; 416-594-3460 and pjensen@stewardshipontario.ca, 647-777-3367

E&E Fund Project Updates 

Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority (PN 260) and Region of Peel (PN 279) for optical sorting projects
Optical sorting technology promises to reduce costs at the same time as it increases efficiency and improves the quality of materials marketed from recycling facilities. To that end, the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority (EWSWA) has received a grant to support a Request for Proposal (RFP) process for optical sorting technologies that would enable automatic ejection of PET and HDPE from the container stream and boxboard from the fibre stream. Results of the study, which is due to be completed over the coming months, will help Stewardship Ontario and MIPC to evaluate the possibility of additional support for optical sorting equipment for this facility.

An additional ‘optical sorting’ project is getting underway in the Region of Peel, building on work done during 2006 on PN 85, in which the Region completed an evaluation of optical sort systems for plastics at it’s Torbram Road (130,000 tonnes/year, single stream) MRF. The  Region recently received approval for up to $475,733 to install and test a dual eject PET optical sort system, which, if it performs as expected, may contribute to an increase in revenue of $238,000 per year with reduced labour costs estimated at $180,000.
View the project description: PN 279

MIPC hires Northern Ontario Blue Box Program Technical Advisor (PN 156B)
MIPC has selected Clayton Sampson to complete an 18 month term as the Northern Ontario Blue Box Program Technical Advisor. As of July 30, Clayton will apply the A-team Advisory model to provide customized technical advice for recycling program staff in Northern Ontario communities. In the coming months, Clayton plans to contact representatives of recycling programs in the area to arrange a visit and to discuss their programs. If you have questions, comments or concerns about your northern Ontario recycling program in the interim, Clayton welcomes you to contact him by email (CSampson@wdo.ca) or by telephone (519-539-0869). The A-Team also welcomes the participation of the City of Greater Sudbury, as the sponsor applicant for this position.
View the project description: PN 156b.

Recycling television commercials to air province-wide this fall: municipalities asked to consider "Recycling Works" ads for "in-kind" space (PN 105)
The "Recycling Works" television commercials that promote increased recycling in single and multi-family households will air on television stations province-wide in November. The commercials highlight, in a humorous way that recycled products and packaging do come back to life as new, useful products. The Municipal-Industry Programs Committee of Waste Diversion Ontario, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the Stewardship Ontario Board of Directors have all approved moving forward with the fall campaign. In addition to the two TV commercials, the "Recycling Works" campaign includes three print ads and a website - all designed to promote and facilitate recycling in Ontario communities.

Municipalities that have not committed to using other advertising messages in their 2007 "in-kind" CNA/OCNA ad space allocation are asked to consider using the "Recycling Works" print ads  in their allocated ad space  to help support and expand exposure to the  province-wide recycling message. To book your "in-kind" space, please contact Nicole Lewis, WDO communications (416-226-5113). Municipalities also are requested to check the listing of accepted materials included in blueboxmore.ca to ensure the information is up-to-date.

Questions and comments should be directed to bmcconnell@stewardshipontario.ca, 647-777-3362. 
View the project description: PN 105
For information about the “Recycling Works” campaign: Recycling Works synopsis
View the website: www.blueboxmore.ca

New Project Reports
Joint Solid Waste/Blue Box Collection for Six York Region Municipalities Project Report
Six York Region municipalities have submitted a project report on a joint tendering process for regionalized three stream collection. The successful joint waste collection RFP resulted in savings of more than one million dollars per year, with savings for recycling collection averaging 21% over the current individual municipal costs. Under the new joint contract, the municipalities are confident they will meet their common goal of 65% diversion from landfill by 2010.To view the project report: PN 214.

To view other newly posted E&E Fund project reports:

Event Update

Ontario Recycler Workshop: Fall/Winter Event            

Please mark your calendars for the fall Ontario Recycler Workshop (ORW), which will be a workshop and webcast, coming to the Novotel Toronto Centre in downtown Toronto on Friday, November 23.

We thank all ORW participants who provided input about the last session. We are using your valuable feedback to design the coming event which will is being designed to include two specialized workshops with topics that are likely to include Promotion and Education and sustainable financing. As planning continues, we will post new information at the ORW corner of the Stewardship Ontario website and email your invitation to attend before the end of September.

In Your Opinion

In the last edition of In-the-Loop—we asked you to highlight some of your concerns in developing promotion and education materials for your programs. Your responses identified staff and budget resource limitations as key issues. Stretching time and dollars continues to be a problem for many programs.

For all of those who are challenged in creating and delivering effective P&E to support their recycling programs, we encourage you use the new resources that are being posted at the Recyclers’ Knowledge Network and be sure to participate in the P&E training section in connection with the Fall Ontario Recycler Network.

This time, we’d like to know … are there any changes that would make the Recyclers’ Knowledge Network more useful for you and other municipalities?

To type in your response: My response
Thank you for taking time to respond. If you have any questions about this survey– please email mbeverley@stewardshipontario.ca.

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For more information on any item in this publication, please contact Geoff Love, glove@stewardshipontario.ca or 416-594-3460.