Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
I'd be interested to see the breakdown, specifically "Agricultural waste". Is that mostly organics? Is it really waste, and should it be attributed to us, given we export so much of the product?
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From the
OECD: Agricultural waste is waste produced as a result of various agricultural operations. It includes manure and other wastes from farms, poultry houses and slaughterhouses; harvest waste; fertilizer run- off from fields; pesticides that enter into water, air or soils; and salt and silt drained from fields.
So, by weight it would, almost certainly be mostly organics?
But looking at the breakdown of Canada's waste, 1.12 billion tonnes were industrial waste, while the only other nation in the top ten that produced more than a billion total tonnes was the United States.
Compare that with the Ukraine, population 44 million, which produced only 470 million tonnes total, and yet: "448 million of which is hazardous waste. No other of the 105 countries for which data on hazardous waste is available produces more such waste. "
So, in terms of total waste, Canada is doing very poorly, and industrial waste is certainly a serious problem - but there is a reason the article said Canada is considered one of the countries doing the
most for the environment.