Clean Technologies And Québec’s New Residual Materials Management Policy

On November 16, 2009, the Québec Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks (MDDEP) published its new Residual Materials Management Policy along with a first Five-Year Action Plan (2010-2015) (the Policy) which aim at promoting the goals of the Climate Change Action Plan and the Québec Energy Strategy.

In order to reduce by 2015 the quantity of disposed residual materials to 700 kilograms per person, the Policy is implementing ten measures fostering the growth of the recycling and energy production industries. One of these measures includes banning the burial of organic matter in Québec.

By 2013, the MDDEP intends to ban the burial of paper and cardboard and to develop a strategy in 2010 for banning the burial of all categories of putrescible organic materials, by 2020, including leaves and grass cuttings, table scraps and sludge from septic tanks and from purification of wastewater in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to recover useful