Waste Management Expert

dita

CAN THE PEEL REGION HANDLE MISSISSAUGA'S WASTE UNITS? ANSWERS TO YOUR CITY'S WASTE CONCERNS.

Problems

• Industries/factories are not disposing their waste in correct bins/disposing waste out appropriately
• Peel Region is encouraging more waste to be produced in households with the fairly new bins
• household waste collectors go on strike 3-4 times a year
• animals ruin the garbage bins to dig up what they smell
• Brae Ben Golf Course can still smell like garbage that the

UNSTABILITY

People and industries not disposing their trash in the correct trash bins results in workers in the waste management companies to stay back, and sort all the waste in correct bins, while still being paid the same salary. Many workers in the Peel Region waste management go on strike because of this very reason. Industries not disposing their waste in their appropriate bins result in pollution and exploitation of the land and water.

In 2015, Peel Region delivered new garbage bins that are bigger and taller in size and also ‘raccoon proof.’ The problem however, is that Peel Region by providing us with these big containers are in a way promoting households to waste as much as possible as the bins before used to be much smaller in size. Peel Region’s counter argument may include “the bins come in 3 sizes, which you are able to choose, so why didn’t you choose a smaller size?” People living in the Heartland area did not receive any sort of paper or information on the three sizes of bins as the new bins were directly delivered to them without any notice. Therefore, the citizens around there did not get to choose the size of their bin and the largest size of the bins were delivered to their respective houses.

Animals have been a problem to garbage cans ever since Peel Region introduced trash cans. Animals tend to rummage through trash and dig through. The issue however, is that garbage collectors will not pick up the garbage if it is not put in the correct bins, resulting in the garbage being left on your driveway until it is picked up the week after.

If garbage collectors feel as though they are not respected or paid enough, they go on strike. They go on strike approximately 3-4 times a year. The main issue that arises with this factor is that garbage is not picked up for that week, which can be quite harmful to those living in the community. They breathe in harmful toxins from the waste that is kept out on driveways.

solutions

In order to make sure our community can respect the waste management, we can have a three strike rule where each time if your garbage is put in the wrong bin, the garbage collectors have the right to give you a strike and will inform you about your first strike. If you happen to reach the third strike, you will owe the government a certain fee.

Since it would take too much money and time to change the bins back to a smaller size, an easier solution for the new garbage bins could include encouraging citizens in the area to produce less household waste. Peel Region could post advertisements and lastly, have their employees speak in the community about how citizens can lessen their waste and alternatives to all the trash they produce in their households.

A simple solution to fix problems with animals rummaging and biting garbage cans can be sprinkling raccoon or rat repellents. This way, animals will taste it and will not want to go through your garbage again.

Turning back to the topic of garbage collectors going on strikes, we can start respecting their efforts for the community and realize that they are in fact trying to help the community. The reason they go on strike is because they feel as though they are doing a lot for the community while being paid the same. As citizens, you can make sure your two garbage bins are at a certain width apart so it is easier for them to pick your garbage up with their machines.

Finishing off, as members of a respected community, we could all start by respecting the Peel Region by understanding the people do a lot for us over there while being paid the same. We can have members from the Region speak to us on how we can reduce trash from our own homes/industries. With these solutions, we can make waste management companies run a lot smoother, leaving everyone satisfied.

Energy and Water Specialist

riya

Imagine a future with a cleaner environment, a future in which Mississauga is seen as a leader in innovative clean-energy/water solutions. Here's my ideas on how we can plan for a city better not only for us but for the environment.

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Water Unsustainability & Problems

• Canadian water resources are overused; residential water use is two to three times that of some European countries
• we do relatively little water recycling compared to other nations
• Increasing urbanization, with inadequate infrastructures for water treatment, leads to concerns about the quality of the water we consume and the deterioration of the receiving waters of municipal treatment facilities
• The cost of collecting, storing and distributing water is also increasing
• Wastewater is a growing issue from excessive water usage
• Problems from other environmental issues affecting water quality; leading to a whole array of problems associated with water (bacteria, diseases, illnesses etc.). For e.g. on May, 11, 2000, the city of Walkerton, Ontario had some how been exposed to the dangerous E-Coli Bacteria through the city's water supply. The water supply has been believed to be contaminated through a Farm run-off into a well which quickly spread to the rest of the water under ground, eventually making it back into the city's water system contaminating and degrading the water quality. Over
• As litter is dumped in the streets, rainwater and snow carry it down the sewage systems into our lakes and rivers polluting and deteriorating the environment
• The polluted water also becomes more expensive and difficult to clean, meaning most companies choose to just leave it in the environment
• Unsustainability; Canada hosts over 9% of the world’s renewable water and slowly by slowly we are diminishing that resource through over water usage
• Local water shortages are already occurring in Ontario and are likely to increase over time due to a combination of demographic and environmental factors. Successful agriculture is based upon encouraging conditions that allow plants and animals to thrive
• Metals such as lead, copper, mercury, iron, find their way into our water through man-made and natural occurring means (agricultural and industrial runoff), they pollute and they will often disrupt and

Solutions

• Mississauga will focus on smaller sustainable practices as well such as: collecting rainwater on rooftops
• We can recycle the fresh water that we use in our daily lives to drink, to power our homes, to grow our food, and to support our environment. For e.g. some ideas include a large underground recycling system for each neighborhood to filter water using a natural filter (made of sand, rock and natural sediments). This will not only reduce impact on the environment during installation but reduce, costs, and effort required to maintain it as well
• By using more sustainable methods we can eliminate the pollution and the negative effects from water filtration plants
• Our city will have a mitigation plan put into use immediately, which will limit the amount of water usage we deem is appropriate per each household per week. If a household chooses to exceed that limit extra water charges/penalties will be applied

Energy Problems & Unsustainability

• The majority of our everyday use of energy (companies, heating homes, to make appliances run etc.) is harnessed from non-renewable energy, fossil fuels which leaves a massive carbon footprint on our earth with very long-lasting effects such as: atmospheric effects, land pollution (for e.g. Harmful ash is stored in solid waste containment areas which are prone to rupturing and causing havoc in the surrounding areas), acid rain and other negative effects
• The non-renewable energy is something which will obviously not last forever which means we have to find another alternative to serve our needs
• The residential sector accounts for 5.9 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, while the commercial sector contributes 4.7 per cent. Most of these emissions come from the use of fossil fuels, mainly fuel oil and natural gas, for space and water heating

Solutions

• By switching to more renewable energy sources we can drastically improve the amount of GHG emissions being released into the atmosphere
• For e.g. The Hershey Project is an example of one way Mississauga is already progressing; installing a turnkey 25 kW photovoltaic solar power system for the City of Mississauga’s state-of-the-art Hershey Centre sports complex
• Huron Park Recreation Centre uses solar energy to heat water. Estimated greenhouse gas emissions reduction is 43 tonnes per year, equivalent to removing 18 cars from roads
• Ontario has already been diligently working towards a more green province through a series of projects which our city will expand on, For example: Ontario closed all of its coal plants, and because most of our power demand is met by emissions-free nuclear and hydro,
• GO Transit has embraced renewable energy, and currently has solar arrays on three properties in Oakville, Ajax, and Mississauga (Erindale), with plans to expand to Burlington and Clarkson in the near future- we will work on expanding the number of properties into “green properties” and expand the number of solar arrays to hopefully one day run a completely green transit system
• Our city will work towards LEED -a design initiative for all all housing and infrastructures which promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health:
• -sustainable site development
• -water efficiency
• -energy efficiency
• -materials selection
• -indoor environmental quality
• This system of housing uses 26% less energy than regular housing today and runs almost entirely on green energy
• One big solution our city will focus on, will be to transition to become carbon neutral. We will transition to that process by purchasing carbon offsets (credits for emission reductions achieved by projects such as wind farms, solar installations, or energy efficiency retrofits) we can purchase these credits and apply them to our own emissions to reduce the net climate impact

Transportation Planner

victor

Transportation planning as a big role to play in developed cities because a city should have an effective transport route and effective ways of transportation and if Mississauga wants to be better it has to fix its problems

Problems

• Moving to and coming from the city of Toronto-The biggest issue with the transportation right now in Mississauga is getting to and come the city of Toronto as it is one of the most important cities to Mississauga .And also due to the fact that 44% of the people live in Mississauga do not work there .
• Traffic-The traffic is getting unbearable due to the fact that Toronto is a largely growing city and the population there is much so the road aren’t exactly built to handle a certain amount of population .
• Old road structural construction-the construction of roads is Mississauga are not modernized therefore are very old and can not sustain the growing population of the city.
• Improper use of spaces- there are a lot of free spaces and also spaces that are not being used properly
• Less use of transportation-due to the fact that a lot of people use cars so people don`t use buses and trains.

Unsustainability

• Carbon emissions-And what is making this unsustainable is due to the fact that there is a lot of carbon emission due to the fact that lots of people use cars rather than trains and buses .
• wastage of resources- Also people end up wasting money due to fact that the cars are left on during the traffic which cause wastage of fuel which then causes wastage of money due to having to buy more fuel .

Solution

• Road structural re-construction-one of the things that can be done to make this problem better is to try to construct new roads because the road system is quite old and cannot sustain much longer .
• Proper use of spaces-sapces should be used properly and more effeicently
• Encouragement-try to make more bus and train routes to make them faster and more efficient so as to attract more people to use it . And try to encourage people to try biking by creating roads for them to use for biking .

Smart Growth Coordinator (Urban Sprawl)

yusra

Urban sprawl is the rapid expansion of industrialisation in an area, replacing much green space in a city with buildings and factories.

Problem

There are many land use conflicts that are the cause of plenty of issues in Mississauga’s urban sprawl. This will be shown throughout this last part of this document.

• Urbanization has created more pollution due to residential areas being further away from offices
• If so many people are driving to work, it means that at rush hours, there is a lot of traffic, causing there to be a high risk of accidents
• The health of humans is affected by industrialization due to many factors
• Habitats and the biodiversity of those habitats are negatively impacted when people build over them
• Water consumption has increased in many ways when land is industrialized

Unsustainability

Due to the fact that the city centers and areas surrounding it are getting more and more urbanized, it means more jobs are created. However, more industrialized area has been built over green space which means that the workers would have to live farther away. This leads to them having to drive to work, increasing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. More pollution in the air adds to the amount of greenhouse gasses, increasing chances of climate change. 82% of people in Mississauga drive to work because of the leapfrog development, where people choose to buy houses farther away from commercial land use so they could get cheaper houses.

Another issue that exists due to the urbanization in Mississauga is the health of humans. Reasons for this are the cause of obvious lung diseases such as asthma or lung cancer due to air pollution. The leapfrog development has made it so that commercial land uses such as grocery stores are not within walking distance. People living in the residential areas will therefore have to bus or drive over to get their food. This is also why obesity rates throughout Mississauga have increased, since before major urbanization took place, most people walked to meet their commercial needs. Since people living in sprawling suburbs spend less time walking, researchers have discovered that they weight up to 6 pounds more than those who live in neighbourhoods encouraging pedestrians.

Only 4.5% of Mississauga’s land is for agricultural use, and 11.6% is open space. At the rate that we are going at making all of Mississauga an industrialized city, these percentages will soon decrease as other land uses will expand. In the attempts of making our city look more developed, we are neglecting the needs of keeping it green as well. More species are becoming extinct and more invasive species are being born because of how industrialization is interfering with animals’ habitat. Less space for growing food will also mean that we will be growing less healthy food. This will create the need to trade for different crops with other countries or provinces, when we have less to give.

Mississauga’s situation is unstable because since urbanization has increased in the city, it results in a higher population. 29% of the land in Mississauga is for residential land use. Just in 30 years, our city’s population has gone from 170 000 to 740 000. This causes there to be more consumption of water in homes. With more people getting better jobs and a better income due to urbanization, they are more able to pay higher water bills, which would result in them not limiting the amount of water they use. Also, the offices and factories that are being built will also require the use of water. The overuse of water will indirectly affect the whole country because if we are using this much water, it takes away from how much water Canada uses as a whole. When compared to other countries, we will be higher on the list of which country uses the most water which will not benefit us because it show how unsustainable we are.

Solutions

Within our urban planning committee, there are many things we can do to reduce the impacts of urban sprawl. The most obvious one is to avoid using cars to get to places where you could walk or bike. In addition, if you are going to move, choose to do so in residential areas closer to commercial and institutional land uses. That way, it would be easier to walk to those places. This solution solves the problem of pollution created by urban sprawl, which also creates less greenhouse gases, putting a stop to any risks of climate change caused by the pollution cars create. It will allow us to have less diseases (lung cancer) created due to bad air. Obesity rates will also be lower, since people can exercise and lose weight by walking or biking to get to their destination. People in our community will also be less stressed if they aren’t stuck in traffic and are exercising to relieve that stress, which makes them an overall happy person.

Another solution we have come up with is to promote smart growth and pre planning. This is an important part of coming closer to decreasing the impacts of urban sprawl. Since Mississauga is a city where urbanization has already taken place, we need to carefully think of how we can protect what empty space and agricultural land we have left. Like in 2005, how the greenbelt was created to protect environmentally sensitive areas and farmlands from urbanization, there should be a greenbelt created in what green space we have to ensure that the land doesn’t get urbanized as well. We could also build up instead of out. That means we can build more apartments that have more floors, rather than using unoccupied land so that we can preserve the land.

To bring back what urban sprawl took, we can plan to plant on rooftops. This will save the production of growing crops in our city and lower carbon dioxide levels as well. We can also reuse the carbon dioxide produced by car pollution and convert it into liquid energy. We can do this by turning sunlight and carbon dioxide into fuel and eventually, growing plants with the carbon dioxide produced.

Lastly, we can encourage people to get more involved with the problems of our city. How can people create solutions if they aren’t even aware of what the problems are? We should encourage people to listen to the radio or read the newspaper and project your ideas to your community and raise your voice.

Bibliography

• http://winthehumanrace.ca/2015-existing-land-use-profile-now-available/
• http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/planningandbuilding
• http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/reduce-your-carbon-footprint/discourage-urban-sprawl/
• http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/mississaugadata
• http://inhabitat.com/liquid-energy-scientists-unveil-microbes-that-turn-sun-and-co2-into-fuel/
• http://www.peelregion.ca/waste/http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/managewaste/house-problem.htm
• http://www.caledonenterprise.com/news-story/6210928-residents-take-complaints-about-new-region-of-peel-collection-bins-online/
• http://www.caledonenterprise.com/opinion-story/5319923-peel-s-new-trash-rules-will-turn-garages-into-garbage-dumps-parnaby/
• http://eap.mcgill.ca/MagRack/SF/Spring%2092%20R.htm
• http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/6232414-questions-still-remain-about-region-s-waste-collection-program/