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House Statement to the Ontario Legislature
Blue Box Anniversary

by

The Honourable Laurel Broten
Minister of the Environment

Ontario Legislature
Toronto, ON
October 19, 2006

(Check against delivery)

 

Mr. Speaker, this is Waste Reduction Week in Ontario.

This week, we also recognize and celebrate a remarkable milestone — the 25th anniversary of Blue Box recycling in Ontario.

Twenty-five years ago, the people of Kitchener took blue boxes filled with recyclables out to the curb for the first time. It was a pilot project and it proved to be very successful.

Two years later, the program had been expanded across Kitchener and the concept of “reduce, reuse and recycle” was spreading to communities across Ontario and across our nation.

Aujourd’hui, dans l’esprit de cette démarche, avec la boîte bleue, 4,6 millions de logements ontariens recyclent leurs déchets.

La boîte bleue est devenue avec les années un modèle de collecte sélective porte à porte pour le monde entier; un symbole reconnu à l’échelle internationale de réacheminement des déchets et d’efforts collectifs.

Et nous sommes témoins de l’impact que ce programme innovateur a eu dans le cadre des efforts que nous déployons pour assurer un environnement propre et sain, le genre d’avenir que nous voulons tous.

Today, using that icon of diversion — the Blue Box – 4.6 million households in Ontario recycle.

We watched as the Blue Box became a model for curbside recycling programs around the world; an internationally-recognized symbol of waste diversion and collective effort.

And we witnessed the impact of this innovative program in delivering a cleaner, healthier environment and the kind of future that we all want.

It’s a made-in-Ontario success story - with a great many heroes.

Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize a few of those heroes today.

Pollution Probe, its staff and volunteers - who in the 1970s recognized the negative effects of the huge amount of garbage we were generating and pushed recycling onto the public agenda.

The Recycling Council of Ontario - which was set up to help struggling recycling operators market the garbage they were collecting from community depots and door-to-door drives – giving more people the chance to be involved.

Derek Stephenson — along with Jack McGinnis … back in 1974 they started a grassroots level curbside collection program that picked up glass, cans and newspapers from households in the Beaches area of Toronto’s East York.

Nyle Ludolph — the “Grandfather of the Blue Box” — who in 1981, together with his employer Laidlaw Waste Systems, spearheaded that first pilot project in Kitchener to reduce household waste.

Mr. Speaker, you may recall that the Blue Box program was launched with a catchphrase that spoke to all Ontarians.

Let me remind you all — it was simply: “You can make a difference.”

Mr. Speaker, joining us today is one of Ontario’s leaders in the recycling movement whose vision and commitment is indeed making a difference …

Please join me in welcoming Damian Bassett, President and CEO of Corporations Supporting Recycling and CEO of Stewardship Ontario.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bassett this morning at a wonderful event recognizing 25 years of Blue Box recycling.

I’d like to thank the teachers and students at Don Mills Middle School, Don Mills Collegiate and Cassandra School, who used their vital minds and boundless energy to celebrate this anniversary with flair and creativity. Earlier today, they constructed a giant sculpture made entirely of Blue Boxes.

More than 300 students participated in building a giant map of Ontario using nearly 2,000 Blue Boxes.

I’m sure all the members of this House will join me in congratulating all the students who took part in this morning’s event.

In 2004, the Blue Box program diverted 824,000 tonnes of recyclable materials away from disposal in landfills, that’s an average of 178 kilograms per household.

Composting is also on the rise in many communities. In fact, I’m proud to say that the Green Bin program had its start here in Toronto, in my community of Etobicoke.

Just last week in Yellowknife, where I met with my counterparts from across the country at the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, I had the opportunity to champion another key element to effective waste diversion — a national packaging protocol. I was proud to voice our government’s intention at that meeting: to take action on reducing packaging. If we take home less packaging, we end up with less garbage. We’ve agreed to work together with industry to develop ways to reduce the amount of waste our society generates.

We are making progress.

But we’re not yet where we want to be.

Ontario still faces many challenges in meeting waste diversion and management needs for the 21st century.

But Blue Box has shown us all that monumental, precedent-setting change is possible.

We can make a difference.

We are committed to working with all our partners at the municipalities to find new, effective ways to divert and manage the waste we create.

Ontario is making progress in expanding the scope of recyclable materials; in streamlining approvals for recycling facilities; in developing waste derived fuels; in paving the way for new, cleaner technologies ...

Our government is continuing the journey that began 25 years ago.

We are proud to stand together with those first pioneers and with a continuing commitment to a cleaner, safer, healthier environment … for our families, our communities, and our future.

Thank you.

 

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