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If our ancestors could have seen into the
year 2002, they might have wondered about
our weekly ritual of offering blue and grey
containers and oddly shaped bags in exchange
for good health.
While this seemingly archaic activity "waste
collection" is far from an offering
to the ‘garbage gods’, it began
as a necessary sanitary measure to prevent
the spread of disease.
Waste management has since expanded beyond
basic garbage collection to include the
new Three Bag Standard Program, recycling,
composting, and converting waste to energy,
as well as highly engineered landfills such
as the Britannia Sanitary Landfill Site,
which is set to close in June 2002.
Even after closure, the Mississauga-based
site, a model of safe waste disposal for
over two decades, will live on in perpetuity
through its innovative post-operation plan
that turned a heap of garbage into an 18-hole
golf course.
"The Region of Peel is looking for
long-term ‘made-in-Peel’ solutions
that may incorporate emerging technologies
to reduce the need for landfills. In the
interim, Peel Region will haul some of its
waste to a landfill facility in Michigan,"
explains Peel Region’s Waste Management
Director Andrew Pollock.
"The decision not to replace the Britannia
Sanitary Landfill signals the Region’s
commitment to finding new, environmentally-sound
means of disposing and diverting waste,"
adds Pollock.
The Region of Peel’s broader strategy
seeks to divert at least 70 per cent of
Peel’s waste by 2016 through its aggressive
waste diversion programs, which in 2001
achieved a diversion rate of 40 per cent.
Peel’s
Waste Management
Improves the Region’s figures |
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Average daily
residential waste collected:
113 garbage truckloads (1021 tonnes)
Annual amount
of waste converted to
energy in 2001:
16,600 garbage truckloads (149,400
tonnes)
Average annual
amount of energy sold using
Peel's waste in 2001:
43,000 megawatts - enough to
power approximately 5,500 homes for
a year.
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The Region already has a long-term contract
with the KMS Peel Inc. Energy From Waste
facility to process approximately 60 per
cent of Peel’s waste to produce electricity.
While there is no sage to show the future
landscape of waste management, the Region
of Peel is working with the province and
the private sector, to make it an environmentally
friendly one. It will continue to emphasize
waste diversion through recycling and composting,
as well as compliance with the Three Bag
Standard Program and conversion of the remaining
waste stream into energy.
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