Is 50% Enough?

By Andy Telfer

In early April, BC Environment Minister Joan Sawicki announced that more efforts are needed to reach the 50% waste reduction goal. This followed the release of a 1997/1998 waste tracking report that shows the province reached 36% waste reduction in 1998. She also announced that "the target for solid waste reduction on the province remains at 50 percent of the 1990 levels".

The target remaining at 50% will not bode well for BC's solid waste management industry. this industry has put millions, if not billions of dollars over the past ten years into expansions and new technologies to handle materials formerly dumped into landfills. We are counting on further waste reductions to not only benefit the environment, but to contribute to a healthier economy through significant spending and investments, and through hiring more people to deal with recyclable materials. Stopping the momentum of the waste reduction industry will only slow BC's economy further.

According to a recent study, waste reduction produces on average, 9 times more jobs for the same amount of material landfilled. If we continue to reduce waste at the same rate, we'll double the number of people employed in this industry in less than ten years!

Stopping this momentum will hurt our industry and BC's economy. If you think we should go beyond 50% waste reduction, I urge you to contract the Minister of the Environment at (250) 387-1187, or fax (250) 387-1356.

Source: CWMA Newsletter (summer 2000), vol. 4 iss. 6.

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