Recovery may have been part of the Quebec landscape for decades, but hundreds of thousands of tons of recyclable materials still end up in the province’s landfills. The amount of waste generated each year per capita has also increased in recent years, to over 1,500 pounds.
According to what emerges from the “2021 report on the management of residual materials in Quebec”, which will be published this Thursday at 10 a.m. by Recyc-Québec, the province is still very far from a substantial reduction in the production of waste and effective recycling of materials that could normally be recycled.
This assessment, the first of its kind since 2018, thus shows that the quantity of “residual materials eliminated” per inhabitant reached 716 kg in 2021, or 1,578 pounds. This figure, which includes “all categories of materials eliminated from residential or non-residential sources”, was also up from the 2018 balance sheet, which amounted to 696 kg.
In all, nearly 6.2 million tonnes of materials were “eliminated” in 2021, mainly in landfills, a figure up 5% compared to the 2018 balance sheet. These 6.2 million tonnes do not take account for the 2.7 million tonnes of materials used as landfill “cover” material, including 1.5 million tonnes of contaminated soil.
“Recovered” materials
Recyc-Québec’s report on “municipal” and therefore residential collection, estimates that Quebecers consumed a total of 1.27 million tonnes of “recyclable materials” in 2021. However, only 62% of these materials were recovered and therefore sent to sorting centres. Once at the sorting centre, 24% of the materials were rejected or stored. “In 2021, the quantities of materials rejected by sorting centers increased compared to 2018, continuing the trend observed since 2015”, specifies the document.
Ultimately, therefore, 603,000 tonnes of recyclable materials were “sent for recycling”, or 47% of the materials consumed by Quebec households. This rate is down, since it was 52% in 2018. And overall, 61% of recyclable materials recovered were then processed in Quebec, compared to 39% elsewhere in the world. The balance sheet published Thursday does not specify in which countries.
The report also does not provide details on the nature of the recyclable materials that are sent to landfills, which are now called “engineered landfills”. Recyc-Québec’s “Disposal Characterization Study 2019-2020”, however, gave figures that included all sectors, including the industrial and commercial sector. According to this assessment, 564,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard, 471,000 tonnes of plastic, 292,000 tonnes of textiles, 143,000 tonnes of metal and 78,000 tonnes of glass were “eliminated” for the year 2019-2020 alone.
Compost at the dump
According to data compiled by Recyc-Québec, Quebec generated 4.7 million tonnes of organic matter in 2021, which includes materials that can be composted or used to produce biomethane. The “overall” rate of recycling of these materials reached 56%, which means that just over two million tonnes were “eliminated”.
For the municipal sector, which includes green and food waste, but also “sludge” from municipal treatment plants, this recycling rate was 47%. In concrete terms, 764,000 tonnes of green and food waste were eliminated, compared to 553,000 tonnes recycled, for a recycling rate of 42%.
It must be said that approximately 66% of municipalities in Quebec currently offer a collection service, or even home or community composting. The report published Thursday also underlines that “the performance remains limited and additional efforts are required” for the institutional, commercial and industrial sector.
Waste
The document produced by Recyc-Québec also cites the “Quantification study of food losses and waste in Quebec”, published in 2022 by the state-owned company. According to this, 16% of the 7.5 million tonnes of food that enters the Quebec biofood system annually, or 1.2 million tonnes, are lost or wasted at the various stages of the system. These lost or wasted edible foods lead to the annual emission of 3.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.
In addition, with respect to construction, renovation or demolition waste, 1.7 million tonnes were sent directly to landfill, without going through a sorting centre. Of the 1.8 million tonnes sent to a sorting centre, 569,000 tonnes (31%) were sent for recycling, “energy recovery”, storage or export.
According to a survey conducted by the firm Léger as part of a commission from the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement conducted in 2021, 93% of respondents believe that waste management is a major societal issue, which must be addressed. attack quickly. And even if 66% of Quebecers believe that they are doing enough to reduce the production of waste as much as possible, the proportion of those who would personally be ready to make more efforts to reduce the quantity of waste to be disposed of climbs to 88%. .