Friday, July 23, 2010
Eco fees will make sense when bugs are worked out
The eco fees program launched in Ontario on July 1 got off to a bad start. They were introduced on the same day as the HST, and nobody seemed to know what was going on. Then, the media, faced with a lull between burning cars at the G20 and Lindsay Lohan’s jail time, went looking for blood.
All of which is too bad, because the eco fees are definitely a good idea. Philosophically, we need to take the next step in both diverting waste from our landfills and reducing the amount of waste that gets created.
The retail sector has had some of its best people working on eco fees for the past several years: CHHMA, Retail Council of Canada, Canadian Tire and Sobeys, were among the companies represented on the board of Stewardship Ontario, an industry-funded organization (IFO) formed to respond to the provincial government waste management regulations created under the Provincial Conservative Government in 2002. (Stewardship Ontario, by the way, is not a government body and not a tax collection agency.)
Two key things went wrong. First, a government-imposed deadline to launch the program forced Stewardship Ontario to rush the thing. While sound in principle and in many aspects of its mechanics, it nevertheless needed more time in which to work out the bugs. Second, whoever was supposed to communicate the results of all their hard work, to deliver the message to retailers and consumers alike of how eco fees would work, was asleep at the switch.
So the Ontario Government’s decision to pull eco fees back for 90 days and “revamp” it may be the best solution under the circumstances.
The eco fees program is going to have its growing pains, without question. And it’s going to take time to deliver a cohesive message about the efficacy of the program long-term to consumers. Just look at the blue box program. It had its detractors and its skeptics when first launched. And like eco fees, the infrastructure was not completely sound at the beginning. Now, blue boxes are an accepted part of life in Ontario homes.
Given time, so will eco fees — once the bugs are worked out — as long as they’re not killed or undermined, and as long as 90 days doesn’t drag into the next provincial election and they become some sacrificial lamb for political posturing.
All of which is too bad, because the eco fees are definitely a good idea. Philosophically, we need to take the next step in both diverting waste from our landfills and reducing the amount of waste that gets created.
The retail sector has had some of its best people working on eco fees for the past several years: CHHMA, Retail Council of Canada, Canadian Tire and Sobeys, were among the companies represented on the board of Stewardship Ontario, an industry-funded organization (IFO) formed to respond to the provincial government waste management regulations created under the Provincial Conservative Government in 2002. (Stewardship Ontario, by the way, is not a government body and not a tax collection agency.)
Two key things went wrong. First, a government-imposed deadline to launch the program forced Stewardship Ontario to rush the thing. While sound in principle and in many aspects of its mechanics, it nevertheless needed more time in which to work out the bugs. Second, whoever was supposed to communicate the results of all their hard work, to deliver the message to retailers and consumers alike of how eco fees would work, was asleep at the switch.
So the Ontario Government’s decision to pull eco fees back for 90 days and “revamp” it may be the best solution under the circumstances.
The eco fees program is going to have its growing pains, without question. And it’s going to take time to deliver a cohesive message about the efficacy of the program long-term to consumers. Just look at the blue box program. It had its detractors and its skeptics when first launched. And like eco fees, the infrastructure was not completely sound at the beginning. Now, blue boxes are an accepted part of life in Ontario homes.
Given time, so will eco fees — once the bugs are worked out — as long as they’re not killed or undermined, and as long as 90 days doesn’t drag into the next provincial election and they become some sacrificial lamb for political posturing.
Labels: Canadian Tire, CHHMA, eco fees, Stewardship Ontario
