Simple Facts Monday: Stewardship Ontario

In my usual news forums this morning, I ran into someone talking about Stewardship Ontario (which I initially thought was a town in Ontario that I’d never heard of, to be honest).

But it turns out that Stewardship Ontario is something even more interesting than that: it is Ontario’s first Industry Funding Organization (IFO). Here’s how they describe themselves:

It was created in 2002, in response to Sections 23 and 24 of the Waste Diversion Act, 2002 under which the Minister of the Environment is authorized to require Waste Diversion Ontario to develop a waste diversion program for a “designated waste” in conjunction with an Industry Funding Organization (IFO).

What does that mean in English?

Stewardship Ontario is an industry organization that operates two programs, one for Blue Box materials and the other for Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW). They operate these programs on behalf of Waste Diversion Ontario, an agency created by the provincial government to oversee a range of waste diversion programs, authorized under the Waste Diversion Act, 2002.

While most of us know all about the Blue Box program (I keep having mine stolen, of course, but that’s neither here nor there), not many of us – including myself – are sure of what the MHSW program is about. Here’s a run down:

M… HSW? Wha?

The MHSW Program is specifically for products – in and around our homes – that have been around for a long time and that we use nearly every day. Some of them have special uses and require special care when we are finished with them. (ie. used oil filters, dry cell batteries (single use), propane tanks, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.)

When consumers take these residue materials and their containers to a collection location, Stewardship Ontario does the rest by making sure it is reused, recycled or disposed of in an environmentally appropriate manner. This means less impact on the environment and less demand for shrinking landfill space.

I, for one, have never taken advantage of the MHSW Program — makes me feel very wasteful! I’m going to start doing my part by taking care of some old propane tanks I have sitting around. What about you?

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Tagged with: landfill • news • Ontario • program • Waste

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