Because companies answer to their shareholders, it was those shareholders' interests that were the priority. These guys were focused. Also, those who represented industry were often professional advocates who were paid to be at all those meetings. It was part of their job.
The municipal representatives, on the other hand, were often already overworked with their everyday jobs. They often got seconded to a committee because their boss couldn't make it that day and the next thing they knew they were supposed to negotiate "cost containment" and to argue why newspapers should be paying into the blue box kitty. The following week someone else was sent.
Probably one of the biggest reasons we are now seeing industry pay a significant part of the cost of recycling--and soon will be paying even more-- is the more aggressive stance taken by the Province, and some stiffening of the spine on the municipal side. Things are looking up.
Lately, there have been some improvements to the balance at the board table, courtesy of some recent restructuring and we look forward to the coming months.
Given the unevenness of the playing field, the mandate of this publication has been not only to shine a bright light into the corners, but to provide the other half of the nuance.
To the extent that some people have not always been thrilled about the brightness, or the other side to the story appearing in print, we may claim some modest success, perhaps. But given our limited resources, we would do well to maintain that modesty.
The nature of any bureaucracy means there will inevitably be a lot of material that never sees the light of day, and for the most part, that is not a big problem.
But no governing body like the WDO, with or without a balanced membership, should be reticent about what they talk about at their meetings reaching the ears and eyes of the general public, even if it might not always be convenient.
Of late, PPSReview has added increased in-depth analysis on some issues, something readers will be seeing more of in the future.
Your feedback tells us it is sorely needed.


.

By Ben Bennett
Publisher, PPSReview

(I have asked our regular columnist Jay Arthur to step aside for this issue of PPSReview.)
Next year marks the 10-year anniversary of this publication, and this marks our 50th edition.
A lot has happened since the first four-page issue of what was then known by its full name of Product & Packaging Stewardship Review was faxed to municipalities across Ontario.
The idea in those days was to provide up-to-date information about what was going on in the world of stewardship, and information about what wasn't going on but maybe should have been.
The biggest thing that was going on, of course, was a lot of talk about industry paying toward the cost of recycling. What wasn't going on was the payment part.
Most of what did go on involved a relatively small group of players, and few meaningful details of what they talked about or did ever made their way to the council tables of the province, or anywhere else beyond their respective ivory towers.
What did get through usually came from organizations representing one side of the discussions, and was suitably (and understandably) nuanced.
A cartoon of a teeter-totter from our July 2001 issue showed the imbalance that existed at the time--see insert. While that was a long time ago, based on comments we have received, the image seemed to stick in many people's minds as summing up the essential flaw in the whole business.
As some of our regular columnists have pointed out that, right from the beginning, the stewardship negotiations which lead to Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) were one-sided in terms of the numbers at the table, and it was clear that the municipalities were being outgunned.
When it came to negotiating, or when lobbying the provincial government, private industry had all the aces.