The History of Landfills and Landfill Gas Management in Canada

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the history of solid waste management (SWM) in. Canada based upon a comprehensive literature review. There has never been a history of SWM in Canada published. Solid waste regulation in Canada is different than in the U.S. The provincial governments establish regulations and policy for solid waste management. Today Canada has about 2600 open landfills and 10,000 closed landfills. Newfoundland Labrador and the northern territories still have some open dumps. In 1993, 70 % of the municipalities had recycling programs. Today Nova Scotia is the leading providence in landfill solid waste diversion. Toronto has a long history in SWM. They started garbage collection in 1834, opened their first incinerator in 1890, and started curbside recycling in 1987. Today they operate two anaerobic digesters to process organic MSW and a clean material recover facility.