The Toronto Region Sustainability Program: insights on the adoption of pollution prevention practices by small to medium-sized manufacturers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)

The Toronto Region Sustainability Program (TRSP) is a multi-year action-and-results oriented program which provides small to medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SME) (defined as <500 employees at facility level) in the GTA with pollution prevention (P2) technical assistance, coupled with a financial incentive to address the root causes of their pollutants and waste streams and improve their environmental performance. The program has been successful in establishing partnerships with three orders (levels) of government and a third party delivery agent—the Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement (OCETA)—to achieve significant reductions in pollutants/waste generation and to promote the implementation of pollution prevention practices within SME manufacturing facilities. This paper shares insights on how the program works and uses case studies as illustrative examples to highlight the P2 methods adopted, the resulting environmental burden reductions, as well as the value-added benefits to the TRSP clientsʹ business bottom line. Furthermore, this paper outlines the findings of a survey conducted by OCETA to identify TRSP clientsʹ key drivers for program participation, their implementation status, and the challenges encountered in implementing P2 projects. It is hoped that the insights from this paper will expand the boundaries of P2 knowledge within the P2 community, and motivate SMEs in various sectors to incorporate P2 as a sustainable business strategy.