Sarnia's mayor believes problems with Ontario's Blue Box Program need to be addressed before it's too late.
Mayor Mike Bradley recently sent a letter to Environment Minister Jeff Yurek about his concerns related to the delay in new program regulations.
Bradley said improving the program, both environmentally and economically, was a key commitment made by the Ford Tories.
"In the past, the program has been paid for by the property taxpayer, and we believe the polluters should be paying and that's been a long-standing position of municipalities, and the province has missed a number of key deadlines for implementing this for 2023."
Bradley said all key stakeholders - municipalities, producers of waste, haulers, and environmental groups - have agreed that the current waste diversion system is broken.
"The blue box system is not functional and that's agreed to by everyone that's part of it, and we need to fix it, and the way to fix it is to have the people that produce the product be responsible for the cost, and also to expand it to ensure that every community in Ontario is a part of it, not just the majority of the larger centres."
Bradley said record amounts of plastics, new forms of packaging and litter are being generated, and the current diversion system cannot keep up.
He said the province has, on multiple occasions, committed to transitioning the Blue Box program between 2023 - 2025, and municipal governments have planned and acted accordingly.
"Well it's very hard for municipalities to plan. We're looking at long-term contracts for people that we deal with on the Blue Box and this is a key shift to move the cost over to those that make the profit from the products that they put out instead of the property taxpayer."
Bradley said any further delay will have major repercussions for municipalities that have extended contracts at cost premiums to align with the province's timeline.
He said he doesn't know the exact costs at this point, but added that it's very, very large.
Bradley's letter, which is one of many coming from mayors and councils across Ontario, is also asking the province to enhance the materials collected to include packaging-like products and single use items.
He is asking the government to get on with the new regulations, preferably before the next municipal election.
Ontario's environment minister is set to make an announcement regarding the blue box system Thursday.
