Assessing environmental improvements resulting from changes in waste management practices in Nova Scotia from 1990--2000

In 1989 Nova Scotia adopted the Canadian Council of Minister's target of 50% diversion of waste from landfill by the year 2000. This set in motion a transformation from an uncontrolled “burn or bury” waste disposal system to a provincially regulated integrated solid waste-resource management system that recognized the value of waste as a resource. Although this new system has been described as one of the most innovative cutting edge solid waste management systems in North America (Goldstein and Gray 1999, p. 38) it is not without its critics. Some opponents say that all the sorting is an inconvenience and question the economic viability of the new system. Others dispute the environmental benefits of shipping recyclable materials thousands of kilometres to be reprocessed. The environmental concerns were the focus of this study.; Using the EPIC/CSR Integrated Solid Waste Management tool, the life cycle environmental burdens of Nova Scotia's “before” and “after” solid waste management systems were modeled. In other words, all of the upstream and downstream inputs and outputs of the waste management systems were modeled to see how the differences between 1989 and 2001 affected environmental parameters such as energy consumption, emissions to air, and discharges to water. The results of the modeling exercise showed that the environmental performance of Nova Scotia's new solid waste-resource management system has improved for each of the environmental parameters measured. The actions which were responsible for the greatest reductions in environmental burdens were an increase in recycling, a provincial ban on the open burning of wastes in conjunction with improved emission controls on the Sydney incinerator, and improved leachate collection efficiency at the provinces new second-generation landfills.