May/June 1989
As the Canadian provinces make strides toward increasing recycling awareness and reducing solid waste, national authorities are taking their lead. Federal programs to encourage recycling and use of recyclable products were among the steps toward progress discussed at the Canadian Alliance for Recycling and the Environment’s first national symposium in March.
By James E. Fowler
James E. Fowler is publisher and editorial director of Scrap Processing and Recycling.
"Waste Not. Want Not," Canada's first national symposium on recycling and the environment, was a dream come true for the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (CARI).
The three-day program, held in Hull, Quebec, in mid-March, was sponsored by the Canadian Alliance for Recycling and the Environment (CARE), a nonpartisan group of governments, industry associations, and other interested groups. CARI played a major role in founding the alliance and in the development of the symposium.
CARI President Albert Adelstein, Sam Adelstein & Co., Ltd., St. Catharines, Ontario, and conference chairman, said the more than 300 delegates were taking the first significant steps in Canada to establish a national recycling agenda. "We hope to use your efforts in these sessions, your conclusions and recommendations, to define the pathways that can be followed—by government, by business, and by individuals—to make progress on the goal of achieving environment-saving recycling on a national scale," he said in welcoming remarks.
Ontario Environment Minister Jim Bradley challenged delegates to use their ingenuity "to turn our throwaway society into an environmentally sustainable society. We must literally move mountains of garbage from landfill and incineration by recycling used resources back into the production stream."
He said Ontario's commitment was to divert 25 percent of municipal solid waste (household and commercial-industrial) to reuse, recycling, reduction, and recovery by 1992. By 2000 the plan calls for 50 percent of Ontario's garbage to be diverted from landfill and incineration.
Bradley pointed out that since 1985 Ontario has increased funding tenfold for household recycling. He said the provincial curbside recycling program has expanded from 40,000 households in 1985 to 1.4 million now.
"From Ontario's point of view," he said, "recycling also needs a national vision and national action. There are some issues which cry out for a national perspective. Packaging and other product standards designed to reduce waste generation and encourage recycled content would be much more effective on a national scale, giving industry a framework which is consistent across the entire Canadian market. I have suggested to the federal [environment] minister, Lucien Bouchard, that this is an area for him to take the initiative."
Minister Bouchard, who spoke at the concluding banquet, responded to delegates by saying, "The federal government has heard your message and is making unprecedented efforts to limit domestic sources of pollution. We have established specific reduction objectives and timetables. Last year, Parliament adopted the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. It is one of the toughest such laws in the world, providing as it does for maximum $1 million-a-day fines and jail terms."
Canada generates a total of 30 to 35 million metric tons of waste a year, according to Bouchard, of which 3 million to 4 million tons is considered hazardous. Ninety percent of the waste is landfilled, 8 percent is incinerated, and 2 percent is recycled. Canadians presently spend more than $1.5 billion a year on waste management.
Bouchard discussed "one important environmental initiative taken by the Canadian government ... to identify those consumer products that are friendly to the environment." "Environmental Choice," announced by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney last June, allows Canadian consumers to make environmentally sound purchases since "they will be guided in their choice by a distinctive symbol or logo. Bear in mind that the logo's appearance on a product will be major commercial advantage for a company that wishes to do business with Canadian consumers," he explained.
During his presentation, the minister announced the first three types of products to be considered for this logo:
automotive and other motor oils made from rerefined oil,
building insulation materials manufactured from recycled paper, and
products such as construction materials, office supplies, recreational equipment, and outdoor furniture made from recycled plastic.
Environment Canada, the federal environmental agency, has issued guidelines to be met by products in these three categories to qualify for the "Environmental Choice" logo. The draft guidelines, developed by the Canadian Standards Association Technical Committee and recommended to the minister by an independent board, will be finalized after 60 days of public review and comment. The first products displaying the logo should appear on the market by late summer.
Bouchard said, "By encouraging Canada's innovative companies and environmentally conscious consumers to manufacture and buy such products, we can all contribute to a major reduction of a serious pollution problem and a better future for our environment."
He added that these three are the first of many product categories to be announced and that several more will be added shortly. "We will have to take the necessary measures to stimulate research and development in the areas of recycling and conservation of resources," Bouchard said. "This will involve, particularly, the development of waste treatment techniques and the opening of new markets for recycled products. … We are convinced that Canada's 'Environmental Choice' program--the second and the most ambitious program of its kind in the world—can set the example for others internationally."
Immediately following the conference, Gilbert Clements, president of the Canadian Council of Resource and Environment Ministers, agreed to submit the final report of the symposium to his colleagues, the provincial minister, and federal minister of the environment. He said, "I can assure you that the recommendations you made will be circulated to my fellow ministers and will be handled with some substance."
Symposium recommendations included:
"The need for federal leadership in restrictions on the disposal of marketable recyclables. Any material that can be reused should be put back into the market.
"The need for nationally uniform regulations or standards for packaging. The delegates could not agree if packaging standards should be mandatory or voluntary.
"The creation of a nonbiased resource bank to centralize information on waste management.
"Every municipality in Canada must have a waste reduction/ recycling program.
"Reduction, reuse, and recycling costs must by shared by the government, the private sector, and the consumer."
CARI President Adelstein was extremely pleased with the results of the symposium. Responding to commitments by Ontario and Quebec provinces to launch major recycling and waste reduction programs, he said, "It's good news. It's about time we got serious about recycling in Canada. … Most of our members got into recycling before it was even called recycling, so we have a lot of productive experience. We are asking all levels of government to allow us to sit down with them in planning programs that will work."
He explained that without consistent standards across Canada, some manufacturers will be able to escape the recycling and waste reduction strictures through moving production to provinces where standards are not in place. That would make a mockery of the whole exercise," he said.
"Everyone in Canada has a stake in seeing that recycling and waste reduction standards are brought in quickly," Adelstein said, "because really we do not have much time. We have to change thinking and we have to change processes and there will be costs to get the programs moving."
The symposium generated significant media coverage across Canada, with headlines such as "Recycled Products to Get Special Government Seal," "Ontario to Set Rules to Cut Waste," and "Packaging Production Should Be Cut in Half, Recycling Meeting Told."
Nearly 70 organizations participated in the symposium exhibition, including scrap processors, equipment manufacturers, waste management firms, industry trade associations, and government agencies. •