It is a pity that the political and media attention for environmental issues during the election campaign is mainly concentrated around greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets and the third link.
Posted yesterday at 2:00 p.m.
While these two issues are certainly crucial, the environmental issue is much broader and affects the quality of life of citizens, our economy and the health of ecosystems. Among the major themes that pass under the radar, that of residual materials is one of the most important.
Residual materials management goes well beyond what each individual can do through their recycling and composting actions. Government orientations and decisions are crucial to help Quebec society take charge of the management of its waste and its energy.
We must first make a few observations, which show to what extent a catch-up and a change of direction are essential.
First, with three-quarters of a ton per person per year, Quebecers are the largest producers of waste per capita in Canada and among the largest in the world. Despite selective collection efforts (recycling and composting) implemented over the past 30 years, this trend is constantly changing. Landfill sites are overflowing everywhere in Quebec and a significant portion of poorly sorted recyclable materials goes to India or is eliminated, like no less than 6.16 million tons of waste each year in Quebec. A net increase in landfilling of waste that the Bureau d’audiences publiques en environnement (BAPE) deplored last January in a damning report. This without forgetting that Quebec’s waste also emits a large quantity of GHGs, no less than 8% of the province’s total emissions, with 6.7 million tonnes per year, and with the strongest sectoral increase.
A large part of the problem lies in particular in the lack of coherence between government policies and programs.
While the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources advocates the production of renewable energy, the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MELCC) calls for the production of compost returned to the fields and the cities want it. lowest possible price and are obliged to go to tender for any significant expenditure. At the heart of this Gordian knot, entrepreneurs try to come up with solutions that achieve all of these goals.
For 30 years, the solution put forward by the government and the main players in the community has targeted citizens. If we must not clear the population of their responsibilities, if we continue to apply the same solutions, the result will be similar. We must therefore continue current efforts, but add a new, radically different and complementary approach that will reverse the trend.
However, there are many possible solutions. Of course, reduction at source and the efforts to achieve it, such as the establishment of the polluter-pays principle, is a necessary angle, but technical solutions and a review of the governance of the sector are just as crucial.
Among the possible solutions, banning the burial of waste without prior treatment should be considered without delay. This practice is equivalent to burying water, recyclable materials, energy and quality compostable material. Even when recycling and organics collection is implemented, people continue to throw away valuable materials. The challenge is to be able to separate them and clean them to give them a second life. There are technologies that make it possible to open the bags of waste and take out about half of the materials, it is probably the only realistic, mature and financially efficient way to significantly reduce landfill needs.
Quebec must also ask itself how to promote energy recovery projects rather than landfilling.
Currently, the MELCC seems very reluctant to recover energy and there is no regulation governing this activity, which is falsely compared to incineration. However, energy recovery is a socially and environmentally more acceptable practice than landfilling.
In this sense, one may wonder why subsidize composting activities when biomethanation is possible. By further promoting composting, we capture the volumes of organic matter that could be destined for biomethanization projects, with a dual perspective of green energy production and circular economy.
We believe that the next government should favor technical and scientific approaches rather than remaining confined to the dogma that every little bit counts. Less waste, more green energy, at the best possible cost, all of this is possible and quickly implemented. This would encourage the creativity of entrepreneurs and municipal actors who are on the ground in the process of operationalizing the entire sector.
Achieving sound waste management will happen more quickly with a few major initiatives rather than waiting for eight million small daily actions.