Annual Report 2000 - Halifax Regional Municipality

Major Initiatives
Waste Resource Management
H
alifax Regional
Municipality — with a
population of 342,000,
generating 260,000
metric tonnes of waste per
year with an existing
regional landfill that was
almost at capacity —
required a waste resource
management strategy and
a new landfill. The strategy
that was adopted allowed
extensive citizen
involvement, input and
acceptance, stakeholder
involvement in the
planning and site selection
process and represents a
fully integrated approach
to waste management.
The strategy was premised
on diverting waste and
turning it into a resource,
with a goal of diverting
65% of total waste from
the landfill by year end
2000. This innovative
waste management system
is based on separation of
recoverable materials at
source and is one of the
first of its kind in North
America.
The strategy promotes
the managing of waste by
Reduction, Reuse,
Recycling, Composting
and Disposal of only
stable, inert residuals in
the landfill. The tools for
achieving the strategy
include disposal bins,
backyard composting,
source separated
composting, household
hazardous waste (HHW)
disposal, blue bag
recycling, front end
processor, waste
stabilization and a residual
disposal facility. The
approach is a curbside
four-stream (organics,
refuse, recyclable
containers and recyclable
paper), two-pass collection
system (organics and
refuse are collected
bi-weekly on an
alternating basis). As well,
a facility that operates year
round is available for
residents to deposit their
household hazardous
waste material. A major
public education
program, "Let's
Waste Less", was
key in obtaining
public acceptance
and cooperation.
The waste
processing and disposal
facility at Otter Lake
was developed
through a Public
Private Partnership
(PPP) approach - a
private sector partner
designed, built and now
operates the facility for the
municipality, which
provided the financing
and retains ownership of
this state-of-the-art facility.
Residents of the
municipality are very
fortunate to have a waste
management strategy that
was community
developed, endorsed, and
promoted. The success of
the strategy is directly
attributable to municipal
residents who every day
utilize the available waste
diversion tools that
encourage and advance
responsible resource
management.
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