What is the Service?

Waste Management includes a wide range of collection, disposal, diversion and processing activities for the majority of residential households, and a portion of these services may be provided to businesses. The goal of Waste Management is to reduce and/or divert the amount of waste ending up in landfill sites, and to lessen the detrimental impact on the environment.

Specific objectives include:

• Minimizing the impact on the environment and maximize landfill capacity by providing a variety of waste diversion programs to the residential, and industrial, commercial and institutional sectors (ICI)
• Providing efficient and economical waste collection, waste diversion and disposal services that meet the needs of the community and regulatory bodies
• Increasing awareness of waste management issues and promote waste reduction through education

Influencing Factors:

• Diversion Efforts: Nature and extent of a municipality’s diversion efforts, i.e. enforcement of various programs, impacts the type and amount of material included in waste collection.
• Education: How municipalities promote, manage and enforce garbage collection, disposal, recycling and diversion programs and services.
• Geography: Urban/rural population, seasonal population, socio-economic factors and the mix of single-family residences and multi-unit residential buildings that impact service provision.
• Government Structure: Services can be provided by a single-tier or a two-tier system (combination of Regional and Municipal service).
• Infrastructure: Distance to transfer facilities; accessibility of local landfill sites with available capacity; the number of active landfill sites; soil conditions on the landfill site(s) and surrounding sites, and; the number of sites under perpetual care.
• Organizational Form: Different service levels and standards; difference in the age of infrastructure; frequency of pick-ups; hours of operations; average number of people per household; residential vs. commercial and industrial service