TORONTO - Toronto residents generate less waste than the provincial average and divert more trash from landfill sites, according to a Canadian Press analysis of the latest statistics.
Recently released data from Waste Diversion Ontario suggests the average Ontario resident generates more than a kilogram of waste every day, or 385 kilograms a year.
That's more than the weight of a large grizzly bear.
In Toronto, the average person was responsible for about 357 kilograms of waste, ranking the city 101st out of 206 municipalities in waste generation.
That total was nowhere near the amount of trash churned out by some of the province's worst offenders, which added up to almost one and a half tonnes per person, the weight of a compact car.
Toronto residents diverted almost 43 per cent of their trash from going to landfill, which was about four percentage points better than the provincial average of 39.2 per cent.
Toronto ranked 30th in the province in terms of recycling.
But because every municipality runs its own recycling program tailored to address local challenges, it's difficult to make direct comparisons between different cities and towns.
Rural and northern communities face additional hurdles that hinder recycling efforts, while urban cities usually have better diversion rates because they offer more opportunities to residents.
More than one million households in Toronto had the chance to recycle in 2007 and more than 165,000 tonnes of marketable recyclable material were collected.
About 81 per cent was paper, 12 per cent was glass, four per cent was metal and three per cent was plastic.
Almost 186,000 tonnes of organic materials was also collected.
