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Toronto Region Sustainability Program
<<Visit the Toronto Region Sustainability Program web site>>
The Toronto Region Sustainability Program provides one-stop pollution
prevention technical assistance for SME manufacturers in the Greater Toronto
Area (GTA), and a 50% cost-share funding incentive, up to a maximum of
$4,000. The GTA, which is Canada’s largest and busiest urban area,
includes a number of diverse manufacturing enterprises that generate smog,
greenhouse gases, and toxic releases to the air and sewers, and hazardous
wastes, threatening the region’s environmental health.
The Program has the cooperation and funding support of Environment
Canada, the Ministry of the Environment, and the City of Toronto. New
initiatives
include:
- Development of a funding partnership with the Toronto and
Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) to enhance and strengthen the
Program’s
marketing framework and delivery structure within Toronto, Peel,
York and Durham
Regions;
- Funding by Trillium to create a York Sustainability Program in conjunction
with the Canadian Centre for Pollution Prevention;
- Partnering with the Ministry of the Environment to encourage early
action by industry to reduce VOC emissions;
- A cooperative agreement with the Canadian Association of Metal Finishers
and the City of Toronto to help metal finishers to reduce or
eliminate their use, generation, and release of the subject toxic metals
and other
pollutants, at the source; and
- An interactive, comprehensive P2 site demonstration project for an
Agriculture Canada Research Station.
For program clients, implementing P2 plans has resulted in improved environmental
performance, a reduction in risks and costs, and a reduction of their regulatory
exposure. The aggregated payback for the Program is 11 months and program
clients are implementing at a rate greater than 90%.
Results to
date:
Number of program clients: 42
Number of P2 plans completed: 30 (29 SMEs, 1 hospital)
Number of P2 Projects: 149 [Each P2 plan has multiple number of projects]
Financial Implications (based on 30 P2 plans):
Savings (Total): $1.9 million/year
Capital Investment (Total): $1.7 million
Payback: 11 months
P2 Reductions Expected [based on 30 P2 plans) (Annual)
VOCs: 412 tonnes
Particulate [PM (<10:)] 2.5 tonnes
Metals: 2.2 tonnes
Toxics: 32 tonnes
Process Wastes: 1.2 kilotonnes
Water: 238 kilotonnes
GHGs: 1.6 kilotonnes
Ozone Depleting Substances 45 kilograms
Waste & Emission Reductions [based on 30 P2 plans] (Annual)
Generic (Recycle): 49 kilotonnes
Hazardous (Recycle): 6 tonnes
Mercury (Recycle): 21.2 grams
PCBs 90 grams
GHGs (Recycle/Reuse) 625 tonnes
Success Stories
The Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology – US Pollution
Prevention Roundtable MVP2 Award - 2004
The Toronto Region Sustainability Program was honoured with an MVP2 Award
by the US Pollution Prevention Roundtable on September 17, 2003, in Washington
D.C. The MVP2 Awards are presented to federal, state and local government
agencies, as well as non-profit organizations and industry entities, which
have demonstrated significant achievements in pollution prevention. OCETA
is the first non-US based organization to win the award.
Hospital for Sick Children - CCME Canadian P2 Awards - 2004
In 2004, the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto) received the Institution
Award at the 7th Annual Pollution Prevention Awards ceremony .The hospital's
comprehensive P2 plan goes beyond the City's Sewer Bylaw P2 requirements.
They eliminated 2.5 kg mercury and 1,700,000 kg of CO2, recycled diverted
solid waste from landfills, conserved 1,434,000 kWh of energy per year,
conserved 67,000 cubic metres of water per year and improved worker health
and safety. This was the first multimedia pollution prevention plan for
a hospital in Canada that comprehensively and systematically addressed
the underlying causes of all waste streams, emissions, and discharges.
Tom Meevis, Environmental Affairs Coordinator stated, when accepting
the award: "this (P2) plan provides us with an excellent starting point
moving forward in pollution prevention."
Contact:
Fred Granek
Vice President, Toronto Region Sustainability Program
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