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tribune march 6 1991 p13 reenfocus leaf collection eases landfill crisis centre for composting helps york stay on top of garbage crisis tracy kibble staff reporter york region is continuing to ensure environmental initiatives are kept up to date with neighboring regions said neil embree director of the municipal branch of yorks engineering department embree who heads up all environmental schemes on behalf of the region said york wants to totally eliminate organic and yard wastes from entering the keele valley landfill site in vaughan one of the newest endeavors the region has undertaken is its new composting centre which opened nov 1990 the centre was operational in time for last falls leaf collection and made a big difference last year in the amount of garbage york dumped in keele embree said most of the nine area municipalities are practising composting including whitchurch- stouffville which is aiming to be a part of the program by spring we want to get everyone involved in composting and hope through ad campaigns and the cooperation of each municipality that all will participate embree said in an interview with the tribune he added the venture is relatively new to york and it is still too early to produce accurate statistics but he did say reports show the average household garbage contains 12 to 18 per cent yard waste that ends up in landfill sites we want to totally eliminate natural garbage from the landfill site embree said a regionwide bah oh the disposal of such waste to keele valley puts york ahead of metro in that perspective he added were turning away trucks that contain organic yard waste such as leaves grass shrub trimming and remains of vegetables embree saidyork regions composting program is a positive step to get material out of the waste stream he concluded the facility is located on the south side of bloomington road west of leslie street in richmond hill at the site wastes are collected from municipalities and turned into a useable horticultural fertilizer whitchurchstouffville residents can take leaves etc to the site from 8 am to 4 pm monday to friday and from 9 am to 3 pm on saturdays there is no charge for the service may arrive bruce stapley correspondent with blue boxes having become a way of life for most residents of whitchurchstouffville local recycling officials are about to initiate a composting program they feel could reduce household waste by as much as 30 per cent cam wallis president of the whitchurchstouffville recycling group told the tribune on friday that arrangements have been air but finalized to make composters available to town residents for roughly 30 per cent of retail cost this spring the town through its waste management committee is to take advantage of an ontario ministry of the environment program which would offer subsidies to towns purchasing composters in bulk wallis said the town will buy 1200 of the units which are constructed of plastic consisting of 50 per cent recycled materials the composter known in the market as the soil saver will be made available to townspeople perhaps as early as june 1 the units detail for around 100 normally said wallis the town will pay 50 each because were buying them in volume but with the ministry subsidy well probably be able to sell them for around 30 each the units which come with a 10year warranty have a lid on top where material can be dropped in with a liftup drawer at the bottom for shovelling composted materials out wallis said the composting program will be a good compliment for the blue boxes now used by most residents the blue boxes can look after 25 per cent- maximum of household waste composting can bring that up to a total of around 50 per cent theoretically that significant the units will be made available again next spring if the program meets with success wallis said and will be followed by a plastic recycling program at some time in the near future greenfacts d if all consumers raised the setting of their air conditioners by six degrees 1 90000 barrels of oil would be saved every day o a running faucet uses more water than you think it puts three to five gallons of water down the drain every minute d if 100000 people stopped receiving junk mail 150000 trees would be saved each year at least 44 per cent of all junk mail is never opened or read o a family of four can save 17000 gallons of water a year by installing low- flow faucet aerators and shower heads o by bringing your old shopping bags to the market thousands of trees can be saved it takes a 15yearold tree to provide 700 shopping bags and billions are used each year z underinflated tires can cost up to a five per cent loss in fuel efficiency if all tires were inflated properly two billion gallons of gas a year would be saved and carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 40 billion pounds a year threats to the environment both small and large are all around us and come in many forms in uxbridge this pile of salty sand is actually mainly comprised of snow and which was ploughed to the edge of elgin pond recently where it will melt and runoff into the pond board using less gas oil the durham board of education continues to use less gas and oil but the number of portables heated by electricity is forcing hydro bills higher each year v even if we can get the lights turned out it can have a significant effect said mike graham superintendent of plant with the durham board of education last week graham explained to trustees reviewing the annual energy report that about 30 per cent of the boards electricity is used for lighting electricity is also used to heat the almost 500 portables being used by the board as classrooms one oshawa trustee pointed out that ontario hydro is subsidizing changes to more efficient lights for businesses and commercial industries and she suggested the board look into getting help graham said he would do so in 1990 the use of gas and oil in elementary schools decreased by 221 per cent and 227 per cent respectively while water use in elementary schools decreased by 28 per cent secondary schools didnt fare as well gas and oil decreased 39 per cent and 154 per cent respectively but water use increased by 198 per cent the use of electricity in elementary schools increased by 12 per cent while in secondary schools it was up just 08 per cent for 15 years the durham board has been reducing its energy consumption through improved climate control equipment more efficient buildings and staff training programs in the efficient use of energy markets satisfaction we reserve the right to limit purchases grey water disposal from pleasure boats environmental protection act regulation amendment invitation for public comment the ministry of the environment invites public comment on amendments to regulations 305 and 310 under the environmental protection act the changes will make it illegal to discharge grey water waste from shower and sink facilities on pleasure boats into ontarios lakes and rivers the amendments designed to reduce water pollution will affect new and existing boats adjustments will have to be made to store grey water in holding tanks and discharge it at pumpout stations an information package has been prepared explaining the changes in more detail including the rationale and implications for pleasure boaters the package is available from the public information centre 416 3234321 please send comments in writing by april 30 1991 to ruth grier minister of the environment 15th floor 135 st clair avenue west toronto ontario m4v 1p5 environment envlronnement ontario dedicated to the preservation protection of our environment with our many environmentally safe products uxbridge highway 47 s monday friday 89 pm saturday 86 pm