Recycle it!

Although wastes are a consequence of all human activity, our industrial urban civilization generates a vast quantity of wastes of all types, making it a problem of the first order. We are releasing millions of tonnes of solid, liquid and gaseous wastes into streams, the ground, the air and the sea. No place on Earth is entirely spared.

Among the many by-products of human activity, one has so far proved impossible to eliminate: the depleted fuel of nuclear reactors. Because these residues continue to emit radioactivity for centuries, they must initially be stored in water and are then eventually transferred to above-ground concrete canisters for temporary storage. In 1997, just over 25,000 tonnes of nuclear fuel were thus stored on Canadian territory, including 22,400 tonnes in Ontario, 1,400 in New Brunswick and 1,300 in Quebec.

In 2000, fully 1.0 tonne of non-hazardous waste was generated per capita; 31.4 million tonnes were generated for the year. That same year, 1.1 million tonnes of hazardous waste were treated and disposed of in Canada. Since the 1980s, efforts have been made to reduce the volume of waste through recycling. In total, 7.5 million tonnes of non-hazardous materials were processed for recycling in 2000. From 1998 there was a 60% increase in recycled plastics. The majority of material processed for recycling in 2000 was paper products (39%) and ferrous metals (25%).