Solid Waste Management

1469 Words3 Pages

Policy is needed to regulate which course of action should be taken and how it should be implemented. Because of this, many plans and policies revolving around the management of solid waste have been put in place. Sometimes however, a particular policy can have its shortfalls, potentially resulting in its negative aspects outweighing the positive ones. According to the Conference Board of Canada Report, “Canadians dispose of more municipal solid waste per capita than any other country” (2013). Solid waste management in particular, involves many aspects, ranging from packaging waste, food waste, etc. (White & Franke 1999), hence, the following analysis revolves around household and commercial waste – referred to as Municipal Solid Waste (White & Franke. 1999) – in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Municipal waste is a major health and environmental concern as it contributes to numerous problems like habitat destruction, surface groundwater pollution, and other forms of air, soil, and water contamination. Waste disposal methods like incineration create toxic substances, and landfills emit methane, which contributes to global warming. According to the Zero Waste Objective Report, “The impact of climate change and the increasing awareness of the role of “waste” and “wasting” in the production of greenhouse gas emissions is a constant environmental pressure… (2009). This leads to an increasing limitation of government to prevent and control the volume and toxicity of products in the waste stream and a growing need to shift responsibility to the product manufacturer.
Further, “In 2008, nearly 13 tonnes of waste were generated by Canadian households. Of this, more than 8.5 million tonnes were disposed of in landfills or incine...

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...Metro Vancouver’s New Waste Plan. Solid Waste and Recycling. 13 (2), p 8. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/docview/212419630
Toxics Action Center, 2012 (n.p.): The Problems With Waste. Toxics Action Center. Retrieved from: http://www.toxicsaction.org/problems-and-solutions/waste
White, P. & Franke, M., 1999: Integrated solid waste management: a lifecycle inventory. Gaithersburg, Md.: Aspen.
Zero Waste Challenge (n.d., n.p.): Metro Vancouver’s Zero Waste Challenge. Surrey. Retrieved from: http://www.surrey.ca/city-services/8684.aspx
Zero Waste Objective Report, 2009: Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Waste Management with a Zero Waste Objective: Study of the Solid Waste in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia. Recycling Council of British Columbia. Retrieved from: http://www.rcbc.ca/files/u7/ement_for_ZeroWaste_Objective_ReportJune2009.pdf

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