Solid Waste Management

Innovative    Effective   Customized

Publication Date: March 2004

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Waste presents one of the biggest challenges to human civilization. While goods are produced, discarded materials need to be efficiently collected, treated, recycled or disposed. Whether located in urban or rural areas, every sector of the economy needs to address the issue of waste management.

Canadian municipalities are implementing customized programs for minimization, reuse, recovery and recycling of waste. Innovative and environmentally sound Canadian solutions to collect, treat and dispose of solid waste are being employed internationally.

Technologies, Equipment and Services:

• Pollution prevention technologies and processes minimize or eliminate waste before it is generated. Technologies such as raw material substitution, computer optimization and process redesign can reduce, reuse, recycle and recover wastes in industrial processes.
  
  
• Waste-to-energy technology converts waste to fuel, such as the capture and utilization of landfill gas.
  
  
• Control and disposal technologies deploy physical, chemical and biological processes, such as incineration, solidification and stabilization, as well as destruction of bio-hazardous and nuclear waste and persistent organic pollutants.
  
  
• Equipment and management services encompass the entire waste chain from collection, storage, and handling, to recycling and disposal.

Global Demand for Canada's Solid Waste Management Solutions

Waste management represents over 30 percent of the $1.1 trillion global environmental market. Canadian waste management equipment and services in this marketplace have been growing at an average annual rate of 26 percent.

Canada's international sales of waste management equipment account for $190 million or roughly 22 percent of the total Canadian environmental goods distributed globally. Most business is generated by customers in the US, Europe and Asia.

What Can Canada Provide?

Canada’s international expertise in solid waste management is highly diversified.

Equipment and products:

• removal vehicles and components for collection and transportation
  
  
• secure tanks, containers and liners for storage
  
  
• bailers, compactors, shredders, and protective gear for handling and separating
  
  
• innovative incinerators and autoclaves for treatment of hazardous, biomedical and food waste
  
  
• award-winning biodegradable compostable plastic bags for kitchen and yard bio-waste
  
  

Services: 

• handling, collection, transport and disposal for recycling or reuse
  
  
• responsible operation, ownership and management of facilities including co-generation, recycling and transfer stations
  
  
• effective waste management planning, consulting engineering and analytical services
  
  
• efficient sorting, cleaning and composting
  
  
• integrated waste management systems design
  
  
• customized landfill and liner design
  
  
• mine sludge stabilization

Patented technologies: 

• innovative biomass co-generation to convert forest and agricultural waste to bio-fuels (i.e.: ethanol, methanol, bio-diesel and bio-oil)
  
  
• organic material digestion to convert organic material into biological fertilizers
  
  
• plasma gasification technology (pyrolysis) to destroy gaseous and slag by-products of nuclear, biomedical, plastic and community waste, generating commercially valuable by-products
  
  
• reverse polymerization to break down waste using microwave energy, producing marketable byproducts (very effective for tire recycling)
  
  
• thermal treatment oxidization & steam sterilization for biomedical and hazardous waste treatment
  
  
• analytical software to monitor waste flows and optimize waste treatment processes

Why Choose Canadian Products?

Customized, Reliable and Effective

Innovative Canadian companies are recognized as leaders in solid waste management. Canada was one of the first countries to implement a wide-ranging residential curbside waste collection system for recycling. More than 20% of municipal and industrial solid waste in Canada is diverted from landfills for recycling, resource recovery and incineration.

Canadian firms offer specialized waste services and technologies for various industries including mining and mineral processing, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, electrical power generation, electronic waste (e-wastes) and pulp and paper.  Canada also has considerable expertise in the cleanup of oil-contaminated sites and marine oil spills to protect the fisheries.

Canada has products, services and customized solutions for solid waste management, meeting the strictest industry standards and regulatory requirements around the world.

Would You Like More Information on Canada?

Canadian Suppliers

• Canadian Environmental Solutions – (CES), created by Industry Canada, is a comprehensive database of solid waste management firms, products and capabilities.
  
  
• The Government of Canada’s Clean Energy Portal provides information on Canadian suppliers in waste-to-energy technologies and bio-fuels.
  
  
• The Composting Council of Canada provides a list of Canadian suppliers and products, as well as general information about composting.
  
  

Solid Waste Management in Canada

• Natural Resources Canada houses two of Canada’s premier research organizations, which develop and deploy leading-edge technologies related to solid waste management. Visit:
  
  
• CANMET Energy Technology Centre
• CANMET Mineral Technology Branch
  
  
• The International Centre for Municipal Development delivers a wide range of successful international programs related to municipal capacity building, including projects in waste management.
  
  
• The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) ’s "Solid Waste as a Resource – Guide for Sustainable Communities" helps municipalities design customized waste management systems to reduce waste, increase resource recovery and minimize material inefficiencies.
  
  
• Environment Canada develops, evaluates and implements policies and programs to support sustainable development.

Prepared by: 

• Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Trade
  Commissioner Service
• Industry Canada
• Natural Resources Canada
• Environment Canada
• Federation of Canadian Municipalities