Media Clipping — July 7, 2004, Canoe.ca

N.S. leads in solid waste diversion: group

By John Lewandowski

HALIFAX (CP) - Nova Scotia may have something to teach the rest of the country, if not the world, about dealing with garbage, a non-profit research group suggested Wednesday.

A report by Genuine Progress Index Atlantic concludes the province's solid waste management strategy is saving taxpayers at least $31 million a year. Lead author Sally Walker said the study took into account the $72.5 million spent collecting and sorting trash each year since 1989.

But, she said, it also assigned a dollar value to benefits such as extended landfill life, reduced air pollution and job creation.

"People tend to look after the things they value," said Walker, adding the report was intended to provide a starting point for similar evaluations in other jurisdictions.

"There are many, many benefits. Since 1989, the waste management industry alone has added about 1,100 jobs. We did value that at between $6 million and $9 million a year," she said.

At its core, Nova Scotia's waste management strategy, which was introduced in 1989, treats waste as a resource and is designed to reduce its impact on the environment.

In recent years delegations from Japan, Russia, Ireland, the United States and Vietnam have travelled to the province to learn from its success.

The GPI study says Nova Scotia now diverts about 46 per cent of its garbage from landfills - a dramatic increase from the three per cent recorded when the strategy was first implemented.

Over that same timeframe access to curbside recycling jumped from less than five per cent to 99 per cent, and three quarters of the province's residents now have curbside organics pickup.

Researchers drew on data from several provinces and cities, as well as other western nations, to arrive at their conclusions.

The federal government, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and major cities such as Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax were among the study's financial backers.

"We wanted to get an arm's length assessment of how this strategy is working and it's true benefits," said Jim Bauld, manager of solid waste for Halifax Regional Municipality.

Bauld said he gets many calls from other cities asking him how Nova Scotia's system works.

"It's all based on separation at source, keeping organics and solids apart."

Bauld acknowledges that different jurisdictions have different challenges in educating citizens about the use of green carts and waste separation.

"You know Toronto has many more challenges than Halifax in trying to deal with over 100 languages, but our attitude is yes, it can be done," said Bauld.

"We are being used as an example. Many cities are using our system, if not in whole then they are taking elements of it and fitting it to their needs."

The study's sponsor, Halifax-based Genuine Progress Index, is a non-profit research organization that is trying to develop a new measure of well being and quality of life - an alternative it says to equating progress with economic growth alone.

It describes its studies as a comprehensive management tool for politicians and policy makers.

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