TORONTO - The province is determined to lift the ban on clotheslines in most Ontario communities in time for the summer sunshine, Energy Minister Gerry Phillips said Monday.
Outdoor clotheslines are currently banned under some municipal bylaws and contracts with home builders. But Phillips said Ontario is looking at allowing clotheslines for anyone who lives in a freehold detached, semi-detached or row house.
Before clotheslines can become legal, Phillips said the province is asking for public input on how to lift the ban over the next two months. The consultation will not include condominiums or highrises, which will be examined separately, Phillips said.
It just makes sense to allow homeowners to use clotheslines, Phillips said.
By hanging just 25 per cent of their laundry loads out to dry, Phillips said consumers could save about $30 a year on their electricity bills while helping to reduce greenhouse gases.
"We have a clothesline - both at our home and at our cottage," Phillips said. "My neighbour has her clothes out all winter long. ... Most homes right now can put a clothesline and it's worked pretty well. Let's get on with it."
Clothes dryers use about 900 kilowatt hours of electricity a year on average, or about six per cent of residential electricity consumption. The province's chief conservation officer recently called on the Liberals to allow clotheslines back into many suburban developments by taking advantage of their own law.
Peter Love said clothesline bans were passed at a time when priorities were different, and the time has come for people to "have the right to dry their clothes outside."
The Liberals passed an energy conservation leadership law shortly after their election in 2003 that included a clause which allows the province to abolish local bans on clotheslines imposed by developers through sale agreements and residential associations.
But the Liberals have never taken advantage of the clause so it remains against the law in some communities to hang clothes out to dry.
Environmentalists are applauding the move to change that.
Keith Stewart, with the World Wildlife Fund, said it's high time the government gave clotheslines the respect they deserve.
"This is a simple, easy thing which they should do," said Stewart, adding Love also called on the province to lift the ban on solar panels. "That's also really important in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
The province is asking the public for input on how best to end the clothesline bans through a 60-day posting on Ontario's Environmental Registry (www.ebr.gov.on.ca).
