We Work Hard To Be Good Environmental Citizens
There are three main work areas where Toronto Hydro has environmental programs in place to reduce, reuse and recycle:
- Material recovery when we replace equipment such as lines and transformers from our distribution system
- Waste diversion in our operations
- Waste diversion in our offices
Material Recovery Volumes
As we take old equipment out of service, we work to reclaim as many of the material elements as possible. The volumes that we reclaim are dependent on the scope of the replacement programs.
| Material in Pounds* |
2007 |
2006 |
|
| Copper |
690,779 |
792,970 |
Insulated Units |
| Aluminum |
534,643 |
630,184 |
Insulated Units |
| Lead |
157,628 |
206,998 |
|
| Sundry nonferrous |
1,142,568 |
759,051 |
|
| Steel |
571,080 |
483,820 |
|
| Meters |
551,144 |
481,283 |
|
| Total |
3,647,842 (lbs) |
3,354,306 (lbs) |
|
| Total Scrap Transformers |
1201 |
1207 |
|
*Reclaiming materials as they are taken out of service from our distribution system is an important part of our environmental responsibility program. The above volumes represent materials reclaimed for each calendar year.
Waste Diversion in Our Operations and Offices
In our own operations we reduced electricity consumption by 2% or 350,420 kWh in 2007. We achieved an 81.5% waste diversion rate, significantly diverting materials from landfills through reuse and recycling programs.
2007:
- Office waste diversion rates 79.9%
- Operations waste diversion rates 86.1%
- Total waste diversion rate 81.5%
- Energy consumption reduction 350,420 kWh
We're Using The Most Environmentally Friendly Papers
Although we are encouraging our customers to receive their communications and bills from us in an electronic format, many still choose to receive them on paper.
To reduce our environmental footprint, we have increased the use of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper for many printing applications, including envelopes and inserts for customer mailings.
Through the use of FSC paper, in 2007:
- 862 trees have been preserved
- 2,493 lb of waterborne waste werent created
- 366,700 gallons of wastewater flow were saved
- 40,574 lb of solid waste werent generated
- 79,890 lb of greenhouse gases were prevented
- 434,696,970 BTUs of energy werent consumed