To encourage manufacturers to produce the “greenest” computer, PC Magazine has developed the GreenTech Approved seal. Computers are rated on energy efficiency, recyclability, certifications and benchmark performance.

A proposed plan is looking to add recycling fees of $10 for TVs and up to $13 for computers to encourage Ontario residents to keep electronics out of landfills.

Media In Canada

Toronto-based EcoMedia has penned a three-year deal with the Canadian National Exhibition that will give advertisers further access to the approximately 1.2 million visitors who pass under the Prince’s Gates.

Starting this year, EcoMedia will gradually replace the 45-gallon garbage bins dotting the Exhibition grounds with branded recycling units.

The Toronto Star

Ontario is slapping fees on TVs and computers to increase the recycling of electronics in the first phase of a program that will eventually see similar fees apply to nearly all other electronic products.

World Changing

Can we imagine a day when, having sorted out our recyclables and compost-ables, then responsibly earmarked our “still perfectly good” stuff for reuse, we’ll have no trash left to drag to the curb? What are the solutions that will take the developed world from our current rates of over-consumption to zero waste?

Toronto Star

Take Back the Light, launched yesterday, is North America’s first comprehensive fluorescent tube recycling program for the industrial, commercial and institutional sector, said Jo-Anne St. Godard, executive director of the Recycling Council of Ontario.

The goal of the new proposed electronics recycling fee for Ontario is to encourage manufacturers to create more environmentally friendly products. The program will charge the first importer of certain electronics, who will then decide whether to add the fee to consumers or to absorb the cost themselves.

Under a new proposed plan, Ontario motorists may have to pay a fee to ensure proper recycling of old tires when they purchase new ones. “Ontarians throw away some 12 million used tires a year and, unlike other provinces with government recycling programs, too many are left in dangerous stockpiles, buried in landfills or shipped out of province to be burned as fuel.”

Statistics Canada stats show an upward trend in recycling and composting in Canada, but the amount varies greatly between cities. Higher diversion rates are seen in municipalities with better services and ease for residents to do so.