Quebec moving away from waste reduction targets as garbage output grows, report finds

Despite the province's efforts to reduce waste, the amount of garbage generated by Quebec continues to increase, according to a new report from the province's recycling authority. 

The most recent figures, compiled by Recyc-Québec and released Thursday, found that in 2021, Quebec produced 716 kilograms of residual materials per capita — an increase of five per cent compared with 2018.

"We're a bit disappointed because we were supposed to go forward in waste management," said Karel Ménard, executive director of the Quebec Coalition of Ecological Waste Management.

"But what we saw in this report is actually the opposite … we have produced more waste, we have recycled less recyclable material." 

The amount of garbage produced in 2021 is well above the goal of 525 kilograms per capita that was set by the Quebec government in 2019 and expected to be met before 2023.

A report published last year by the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement's (BAPE) said nine of Quebec's 38 landfills would reach capacity by 2030 and 13 others would between 2030 and 2041 if the dumping of waste continued at the 2019 rate — 724 kilograms per capita.

In its report, Recyc-Québec noted that Quebec households managed to reduce the waste placed in garbage bins by five per cent in 2021 compared with 2018. However, during that same time period, waste produced by construction and renovation activities jumped by 20 per cent.

Quebec confident it will meet its targets

While individual Quebecers have made improvements in their recycling habits, Marie-Josée Asselin, vice-president of the executive committee of Quebec City who is responsible for waste management there, said the population has relied on "a lot of single-use products, take-out items and online shopping" in recent years — in part due to the pandemic. 

She also said recyclable materials still end up in the garbage all too often.

"When you see cardboard going to the incinerator, or sheets of paper, it's nonsense," she said. "Every time we make a bad choice in waste management, we pay the price collectively."

Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette said Thursday the amount of waste sent to landfills in Quebec is "still too much," but he's confident the province's targets set for 2023 will still bet met. 

Charette said a number of measures to reduce waste are already in place, but "we must give these measures time to [bear fruit]."

However, he said "the work is not finished" and these actions alone will not be enough to right the ship. He promised new measures will be announced over the next year. 

For Ménard, a large part of the solution is rethinking our consumption habits. 

"Recycling is not the only solution — [it's] maybe last thing should do," he said.

"What we should do is consume less products and less packaging and we should have regulations [about] that."