Renowned environmentalist David Suzuki has joined forces with a Toronto environmental group to push the city to create a bylaw forcing businesses to disclose how much pollution they create.

The Toronto Environmental Alliance and Suzuki met with Mayor David Miller Thursday to discuss the idea.

David Suzuki says 75 per cent of Toronto's industry emissions are unreported.
(CBC file photo)

"It's kind of a no-brainer that we need full public disclosure as to where and what the various contributors to the atmosphere are," Suzuki said.

The bylaw would require commercial and industrial facilities, such as print and auto body shops, to report their use and release of polluting chemicals.

Bylaw hard to implement: mayor

Miller said city council is working on a draft proposal for spring, but implementing such a bylaw would take time.

"What we need to be careful about is accommodating people's right to know while making sure we don't impose a new regulatory scheme that's not workable," Miller said.

As part of his 2006 election promises, Miller vowed to take a tough anti-smog plan and cut smog-causing pollutants by 20 per cent by 2012.

"If you're going to develop a program to deal with clean air, you've got to have an inventory of everything that's being put into it. It's as simple as that," Suzuki said.

Similar bylaws in U.S.

According to Suzuki, Toronto Public Health research shows that 75 per cent of industry emissions are unreported.

He also said less than three per cent of the 40,000 facilities in Toronto that use or release toxic chemicals disclose their emissions to the public.

The environmental group, TEA, says the city made a commitment seven years ago to move forward with the bylaw, but never acted on it.

It points to places like New York and Massachusetts where a similar bylaw has successfully encouraged companies to reduce pollution by as much as 90 per cent.