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Solid Waste
Management
Introduction - Why is this
topic of interest?
Where Do These Issues Come
From?
Solid Waste Indicators
Introduction
- Why is this topic of interest?
It’s about garbage and recycling
and that affects us all.
When residents think of services provided by the
City of London, the one that often comes to mind
first is garbage and recycling collection. It is
highly visible at the curbside or at a central
location in a multi-residential building and
ever present in our daily routine of collecting
and separating household waste. On average, each
Londoner generates 1.1 kilograms of residential
waste per day. Where does it all go? In the
past, all household waste was buried in a dump
and forgotten about.
Today’s landfills, including London’s W12A
Landfill, are complex systems designed to
protect the environment. But, landfills are only
one part of the solution to how we manage our
waste. Household residential waste, is a broad
term which includes all waste materials
generated in a residential setting ranging from
the ‘waste’ that can be recycled to the
‘garbage’ that is disposed of in landfill.
In the last two decades the amount of household
waste generated by Londoners has changed very
little. In fact, in 1986 each Londoner generated
1.2 kilograms of waste per day on average
compared to 1.1 kilograms today. How we manage
our waste has changed dramatically over this
time period. In 1986 almost 100% of household
waste was disposed of in landfill. Today, a large
percentage of our household waste is managed by
other programs including Blue Box recycling,
leaf and yard materials collection and
composting, and scrap metal and electronics
recycling.
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Where
Do These Issues Come From?
Today, London has
approximately 15 - 20 years of remaining
landfill capacity. The stringent
regulation process makes the selection
and building of new landfills
challenging and costly. The diversion of
resource materials (i.e., recyclables,
organics) from the landfill makes good
economic and environmental sense. Waste
diversion initiatives can lengthen the
life of a landfill by keeping out
recyclable and compostable items or save
the space for garbage from other sources
in London.
One of the major challenges facing waste
management programs across the Province
is the 60% diversion target established
by the Ontario Ministry of the
Environment. In 2006, 40% of London’s
household waste was diverted from
landfill. On a per capita basis this
means that, on average, we divert about
0.4 kilograms per day to beneficial uses
with the remaining 0.7 kilograms sent
for disposal in landfill. We know from
waste audit studies that the portion
sent to landfill contains recyclables
and organic materials that could have
been diverted. To achieve the provincial
target, the City of London will have to
make fundamental changes to the existing
system over several years and residents
will need to make significant changes to
their habits, to divert more materials
from landfill.
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Waste Management - Quick Facts
Londoners ‘capture’ 60% of the
recyclables that they are asked to
recycle in the curbside recycling
program.
90% of households participate in
London’s curbside recycling
program.
Between 1990 and 2006, Londoners
have recycled more than 285,000
tonnes of materials through the
residential recycling program.
The materials collected in our
Blue Boxes are recycled into a
variety of new products: newsprint
and paper products, new cans,
wheels, aluminum products, new
steel containers, glass jars and
bottles, plastic pails, bumper
blocks, fence posts, carpet,
insulation and aggregate.
The landfill gas collection system
in place at London’s landfill
collects and destroys methane gas
from the landfill, equivalent to
reducing carbon dioxide emissions
by 70,000 tonnes each year. Plans
are underway to develop a 2-3
megawatt landfill gas power plant,
producing enough renewable energy
for about 2,000 – 3,000 homes.
This has the same climate change
benefit as removing 16,000 cars
from the road everyday.
99% of London households comply
with the 4 Container Limit for
garbage by setting out 4 or fewer
containers on collection day.
In 2006, 130 tonnes of Christmas
trees were recycled through the
Christmas tree recycling depots.
Londoners love to recycle their
outdoor yard materials! In 2006,
16,000 tonnes of yard materials
and fall leaves were collected at
the curb or dropped off at the
depots.
Backyard composting and grass
cycling diverted an estimated
9,000 tonnes of organics from
landfill in 2005.
Kitchen and yard materials (i.e.,
organic materials) make up 30% to
40% of the residential waste
stream by composition.
Metal, electronics, and
renovation/construction materials
(e.g. wood, drywall, shingles,
bricks) can now be recycled at the
Clarke Road Community EnviroDepot
and the Oxford Street Community
EnviroDepot.
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