Waste not, want not in Nova Scotia

In less than five years, Nova Scotia reduced its massive waste by 50 percent with various programs, including stewardship agreements with tire retailers

By Environmental News Network staff

It's one thing to talk trash. It's another to do something about it, as Nova Scotia has done.

The eastern Canadian province recently became the first territory in the country to reduce the garbage it generates by 50 percent.

What's more, Nova Scotia accomplished the reduction in less than five years and created thousands of new jobs - all in a region hamstrung by high unemployment.

"Some of these are good $20-an-hour positions," says Barry Friesen, solid waste resource manager at the Nova Scotia Department of Environment.

About 15 percent larger than Maine, which lies to the west across the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia is mostly rural with a population of less than 1 million. The province has suffered economically because of declining fisheries on the Atlantic coast and a dying coal and steel mill industry.

Until 1995 Nova Scotia's waste management strategy was simple: Dump garbage into a big hole and burn it. The solitary, massive landfill outside the city of Halifax was an environmental disaster that cost millions to clean up. And no community wanted new landfills in their backyards.

With no easy solutions at hand, the government asked residents through public surveys how to solve the garbage crisis. Recycling, composting, reduction and reuse, they replied.

Good ideas and intentions weren't enough, so in February 1996, a comprehensive strategy to reduce waste going to landfill or incineration by 50 percent by 2000 was made into a law. One part of the plan made it illegal to put recyclables and compostable organic materials into landfills.

Here's what Nova Scotia's achieved:

Did the program cost the province an arm and a leg? Not at all. In fact, recycling and composting is making money, says Friesen. Most of the composting facilities are privately owned and are selling their products to landscapers and gardeners for as much as $55 a ton. "We have a whole new composting industry here and it's growing by leaps and bounds."

Friesen allows that some complaints were lodged about paying a six-cent deposit for all drink containers and receiving a three-cent refund. The other three cents is used to pay Enviro-Depot owners and fund other recycling and diversion programs.

More than 500 jobs have been created in transportation, processing, and marketing beverage containers and other materials. There are 10 times more jobs in recycling than in disposal.

Nova Scotia's waste innovations have spawned whole new recycling industries for paint, plastic bottles, used lumber and newspaper. There's even a cottage industry springing up around wastes, including ornaments made from broken window glass. "People see business opportunities we never even dreamed of," says Friesen.

Nova Scotia is now a world leader in recycling and waste reduction, attracting attention from Hong Kong, Iceland, Taiwan, Russia, and other parts of the world. "We've even had some quiet visits from Toronto officials," says Friesen.

With no landfill space left, Toronto and its surrounding suburbs were looking to dump their annual 1.3-million tonnes of garbage into an abandoned gold mine 400 miles away in northern Ontario. That $650-million-dollar deal recently fell through, and the waste will now be trucked to Michigan, much to the ire of residents there.

"Toronto is missing out on a great economic opportunity," says Friesen.

Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

EU proposals aim to reduce electronic waste
June 15, 2000
Everest expedition hopes to conquer summit and trash
March 30, 2000
Chinese company blasts trash troubles away
September 27, 1999
Star-gazing for space trash
June 25, 1999

Garbage-train scheme stirs trash talk in Canada
Waste makes haste — and money — for compost companies
Hot potato: Shunned toxic waste destined for Wake Island
3 cans of cobalt 60 found in Thai car park

Nova Scotia
  • Nova Scotia Department of Environment
  • 12 Waste Reduction Fact Sheets
  • Waste-Resource Management
  • Eco-Kid Recycles Video (RealPlayer)
beverage containers

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.