The pace of landfill “is no longer sustainable”, says Valérie Plante.1 For years now, cities, committees of citizens concerned about the environment, managers of our residual materials have been denouncing the endless expansion of landfill sites. And the ever-increasing costs of landfilling our waste promise to be tough.
Posted at 3:00 p.m.
Take a close look at your tax account to understand the seriousness of the problem. This is announced indirectly by the Mayor of Montreal, preceded in the matter by the surrounding municipalities of the metropolitan region.
Yet the solution has become obvious: sorting our residual materials at source would drastically and even economically reduce the waste that is costing us collectively and individually so dearly.
At least two Quebec experiences clearly demonstrate that sorting at source is not only possible, but profitable! One led by a public institution, the other by a large number of citizens. Last week, The Press presented us with a mini sorting center to recycle more. 2 It revealed the “surprising” performance of a hospital in Longueuil in terms of source recovery of a multitude of materials previously destined for landfill.
Shredded paper, plain cardboard, plastic, metal, everything is sorted into top quality bales. And this hospital’s source separation facility will be paid for in full within a year with revenue from their properly sorted materials sold directly to packagers-recyclers. What are institutions, businesses and industries waiting for to get started?
Then there is the impressive performance of glass containers by Opération Verre-Vert. Private citizens in more than 150 municipalities have been collecting thousands of tons of premium glass from drop-off containers for more than two years. This sorting operation at source by citizens is done at zero cost, in addition to saving landfill costs, which are increasingly expensive.
The source of waste is first and foremost the citizen. The source of the sorting of this waste is the same citizen. Can we offer him the chance to become the source of the sorting of his recyclable materials?
1. “‘The rate of burial is no longer sustainable’, says Plante”, in The Press
2. “A mini-sorting center to recycle more”, in The Press