Hazardous waste management in Canada
- Environment Canada, Hull, Quebec (Canada). Hazardous Waste Branch
This paper describes the historical development of the hazardous waste management policies in Canada from a federal perspective. It also discusses the implications of the new (1995) federal Toxic Substance Management Policy on combustion sources in Canada. The control of hazardous wastes in Canada is a shared responsibility between the federal and provincial governments. Since its formation in 1971, Environment Canada has been responsible for setting standards and regulating various facets of hazardous waste management activities in Canada. Federal responsibilities cover the transportation of wastes across provincial or Canadian borders to off-site treatment and disposal facilities and the management of wastes on federal lands and undertakings. The provinces have jurisdiction over the on-site management of hazardous wastes and the movement and treatment of wastes within provincial borders. For the majority of the country, provincial regulations are in place which provide an administrative structure for documentation, operating approvals, facility approvals and enforcement. In order to harmonize the activities of these two overlapping jurisdictions, the federal and provincial governments work together in the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) to develop common guidelines on waste management that represent minimum national standards which the governments use to set their own regulatory framework within their particular jurisdiction. Recently, the federal government adopted the Toxic Substance Management Policy (TSMP) which calls for the virtual elimination of several track 1 substances including several combustion substances such as dioxin and furan and hexachlorobenzene. The history and impetus for the development of federal hazardous waste regulations and CCME guidelines will be discussed together with the implications of the TSMP on both of these control instruments.
- OSTI ID:
- 353612
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970677--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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