Playing the waste management card in an election year

By Jay Arthur

When everyone and his dog is telling us that the environment is the new issue for the great unwashed out there, does this mean that boring old waste management will finally see the light of day in political debates?
I have my doubts.
Kyoto is one thing; disposal capacity is another. Until Al Gore makes a movie that shows how failing to reduce solid waste is melting the polar ice cap, it likely ain't going to happen.
Yes, yes, I know there is a link between waste and energy and that not recycling that sardine can is ultimately contributing to global warming, but it's a stretch.
That being said, this is an election year in Ontario and obviously the Liberals are looking for good press--or as little bad press as possible--between now and October.
The premier-led LCBO deposit program had little to do with waste diversion and lots to do with polls. Everyone knows people support the system and in a refreshing case of the people's will actually being given higher priority than the corporations, it actually happened.
The Tories really couldn't knock the idea--they had seen the polls--so were forced to resort to rather hollow and poorly reported complaints about how it was done and why it took so long.
I felt sure it would be a total field day for Tory's Tories when, just three months after the LCBO announcement, the environment minister admitted we were nowhere near the provincial waste diversion targets. Apparently not.
The story came out of a CBC interview as opposed to an actual announcement. But if local papers were able to pick it up where on earth were the PCs?
The Government had candidly fessed up that overall Ontario was not even halfway to the much-vaunted 60% diversion target and all we got from John Tory and Co. was silence.
What gives?
The PCs should have been all over the Liberals like flies

on compost.   
...Another promise not kept (well, sort of).
...If you said you'd do 60 and you barely made 25 would you expect to be rehired as a manager?
...If they cannot look after our garbage what good can they be at running an entire province?
The possibilities were endless.
The Liberals must realise this-- hence the mad rush to get something in place on household hazardous waste before the election. Reducing pollution will play well to the galleries. No one except those actually involved in the minutiae will note the folly of the impossible timetable and the shady way the funding organization was selected (on condition they shut up about the LCBO thing).
Perhaps the Liberals already had a plan in place to counter any Tory criticism of the sad diversion numbers by reminding everyone it was the evil Harrisites who created the crisis in the first place. They canned the Interim Waste Authority and left the borders open to low-budget operators from poor Michigan and Pennsylvania communities who were hungry for landfill fees and less NIMBY-inclined than their counterparts in the 905 world. As a result of this market-driven policy, Ontario landfill gate fees were dragged down and many recycling initiatives were suddenly not feasible anymore.
Nice one, Mike.
The NDP seem to be looking at packaging as a vote-getting hobbyhorse. While mainly a federal issue, Ontario does have some room to move, if only by hustling the feds and the other provinces to do something about a few very visible irritants like plastic bags, Tim Hortons cups and fast food packaging.
While none of these materials is very high on many municipal waste managers' lists, given their relative small quantities in the waste stream, waving the packaging flag is sure to garner headlines.
The Greens are talking about doing a Nova Scotia and banning organics from landfill. That would get the waste  managers' attention but would not likely get much media.
And don't forget, it's what fires up everyone and his dog that wins elections, not sound waste policies.