Canadian Landfills

For centuries, Canada has been extracting and using all of the resources that we could at an increasingly shocking rate. Ever since the beginning, we have been seen as a resource-rich country, and with so much, it makes perfect sense that we are one of the most wasteful countries in the entire world. Our country extracts so much and much of that eventually ends up in landfills, in fact, Canada has one of the highest garbage rates and electricity consumption rates in the entire world.

As of January 1, 2003, the Canadian city of Toronto, Ontario started to ship one hundred percent of its garbage into the landfills of Michigan.  In 2003, Toronto exported garbage at a

Alex Lin and many other teen activists trying to stop toxins from getting into the ground. These toxins can get into natural resources and water systems. Computer chemicals such as lead, mercury, and caldeum are to the human body. When computers are recycled and softly disarranged and recycle, but when they're thrown out they are gathered and put in landfills and dangerously seep into the ground. There is so much electronic waste they have to be cared with bulldozers and many other heavy machinery. This machinery is very expensive. People that throughout computers can just put it the blue bin instead of the green. Also these landfills are ugly sites. Landfills are in places like the outskirts of cities. They create ugly toxic hills that will be placed in the poorer parts of the city (outskirts). Theas landfills have tubes in the ground so the toxins can be released so the ground does not blow up. These toxins are released into the ground and the air for people to breathe. Finally, when People hat breathe this air can become very

A very important issue tied to Canada’s future sustainability is that of recycling. There is currently a shortage of suitable landfill spaces in Canada, and the current landfills produce harmful emissions (Statistics Canada, 2008). Using methods to divert as many of these wastes away from landfills will help to slow their growth and improve Canada’s future outlook. Recycling is one such method.

Currently, landfills are responsible for 15 million tonnes of C02 in our atmosphere each year. When garbage decomposes, it creates methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This contributes to greenhouse gasses and damages the ozone layer. Landfills take up space, as well as being dangerous and toxic. Rubbish that ends up in our oceans can cause harm to our marine life and poison our water.

Within the next five years, the city will be forced to expand the current landfills. The main need for this is a constant output of municipal solid waste. With a sluggish participation rate of only 35% the need to expand that finite space will be inevitable. On the surface this seems like an easy choice, but there has to be

Historically, the state of garbage in California has not been that pleasing. Most of the landfills in the State are currently overused as some continues to get worse with time. This probably is the case because by the year 2013, only 36.6% of the entire waste products in United States were actually recycled. Moreover, according to the findings presented from CalRecycle study, the existing organic wastes constitute 32.4% of all the waste product. Sadly, these organic wastes pose a significant threat to the surrounding environment (Donovan). The common practice of burying solid wastes in a landfill is confirm dangerous to the environment because of the chemicals that later build up beneath the earth surface hence producing Leachate, a poisonous

The article Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Ontario Waste Management Industry by Maria Kelleher, Christina Seidel, and Ralph Torrie, examined cap and trade policies for greenhouse gases and waste management systems in Ontario, Canada. The authors purpose was to summarize the connections between Ontario’s waste management industry and greenhouse gas emissions, as wells as to identify and explore opportunities and challenges associated with GHG cap and trade systems in industries (Kelleher, Seidel, & Torrie, 2015). A cap and trade policy for GHGs is in preparation for implantation in Ontario. The waste management industry influences GHGs in a variety of ways. Some of these influences include

For WM the fuel, environmental charge included on a customer’s invoice is determined by first putting in the percentage of the WM Collection Fuel Surcharge Table or WM Disposal Fuel Surcharge Table into the overall invoice charges (excluding taxes). Next the environmental percentage is put in the sum of the total invoice charges and fuel surcharge calculation (excluding tax). Landfills produce harmful gases that if breathed in by people can cause serious health issues. The gases they let off also can ignite huge fires. If the water gets contaminated, then there is a long process to get to clean again and it cost 10 million dollars. Landfills also create a toxic soup of industrial and home-cleaning chemicals. These are just some of the impacts that solid waste management has on people and environments. My group has come up with different ways to solve these

It’s easy to pinpoint the cause of the problem in our local area. According to the fact sheet 54% of waste is municipal, 22% of waste is residual, 10% of waste is from sewage sludge, 11% from construction/demolition, and 2% of waste is from Ash & Asbestos (Landfill Facts). These are interesting numbers that show where the problem comes from directly in my local area. These are all areas that solid waste comes from, and is brought to the landfill. According to Danny, there are 40-50 companies that bring landfill to this area (Hassenplug). Again, 54% of waste comes from cities and towns so that means a majority of the waste is produced by people in the surrounding area of the landfill. Living in America, we’re all very wasteful people simply because it’s America, and we can. Solid waste that is produced and sent to landfills is not a problem specific to

The issue on most peoples’ minds today is: How will this affect me? In this case, will whatever method my government picks be detrimental to my health? There have been several studies regarding this topic for instance one study published in the Journal of Environmental Management says that “WTE (waste to energy i.e. incinerators) treatment is a better option than landfilling…due to the differences in non-cancer and cancer health risks…”(Moy et al. 77). In the previous study’s abstract they claim that landfills have “individual cancer and non-cancer risks that are five times greater than WTE” to the surrounding community (Moy et al.

Surface water contamination Groundwater contamination of landfill because of leachate leakage. Leachate is aqueous effluent produced as a consequence of rainwater percolation through landfilled waste, biochemical processes within landfill and the inherent water content of the landfilled waste (Renou,

Waste has been around for thousands of years, yet it still remains an issue today for countries to collect and dispose of waste effectively (Samah 1810). Managing waste has become a larger issue recently than it was in years past due to an increase of the world population. As a result of poor waste management, several issues have risen. Current methods of waste disposal, such as incinerators and landfills, have several downfalls associated with them due to the pollution these methods of disposal can cause. Another issue that is the result of poor waste management is electronic waste, which can leak toxic chemicals if not disposed of correctly. A third issue that is also associated with poor waste management is the Pacific garbage patch, a large collection of small plastic bits floating at various depths in the Pacific Ocean. One example of effective waste management is curbside recycling, which reuses unwanted materials and transforms the materials into new products.

Policy is needed to regulate which course of action should be taken and how it should be implemented. Because of this, many plans and policies revolving around the management of solid waste have been put in place. Sometimes however, a particular policy can have its shortfalls, potentially resulting in its negative aspects outweighing the positive ones. According to the Conference Board of Canada Report, “Canadians dispose of more municipal solid waste per capita than any other country” (2013). Solid waste management in particular, involves many aspects, ranging from packaging waste, food waste, etc. (White & Franke 1999), hence, the following analysis revolves around household and commercial waste – referred to as Municipal Solid Waste

As our global population continues on a steady rise so does our product consumption, which naturally leads to an increase in waste production. The vast amount of waste that we are manufacturing ultimately lands up in our oceans, lakes, rivers, alley ways, backyards and parks creating what are known as garbage towns. This would introduce health risks to individuals and the community as a whole. These risks could also include exposure to dangerous chemicals that poses detrimental effects on the environment. To avoid this from happening governments have created landfills. Landfills are a “place to dispose of refuse and other waste material by burying it and covering it over with soil, especially as a method of filling in or extending usable land.” (Webster Dictionary). In an even more extravagant attempt to keep waste material out of the streets and non biodegradable products out of the ground and keeping organic material together governments have added recycling and composting plants to landfills to make waste management centres. In waste management centres they may separate the material there and transport it to its respective plant, or have the respective plants built in.