Waste management

The total quantity and the quantity per person of non-hazardous solid waste diverted and disposed by municipalities and businesses in the waste management industry as well as the waste diversion rate by source (residential and non-residential).

This indicator represents the quantity (measured by the weight in tonnes) of all types of material diverted and disposed from residential and non-residential sources. The diversion rate is the percentage of waste diverted relative to the total waste disposed and diverted, as reported to the two waste surveys. Waste diverted and disposed per person is calculated by dividing the total quantity of diverted or disposed waste by a jurisdiction's population estimate.

The data used for this indicator come from two Statistics Canada surveys which are both carried out every two years. The most recent surveys were conducted in 2020 and the results were released in 2022 and 2023 in Table 38-10-0138-01 – Waste materials diverted, by type and by source and Table 38-10-0032-01 – Disposal of waste, by source.

• Waste Management Industry Survey: Government Sector
• Waste Management Industry Survey: Business Sector

Population data used to derive the amounts per person come from the Census of Population Annual Demographic Estimates from Table 17-10-005-01 – Population estimates on July 1st, by age and sex.

The data are for waste collected. Total waste generated is not tracked. For example, littering, dumping or storing waste is not accounted for.

The indicator also excludes material that bypasses the waste management stream captured by the surveys, including material not processed in a material recycling facility, such as material recycled directly by retailers, or the reuse of bottles handled through a bottle-return program.

Municipal and business waste collection operations must meet Statistics Canada's reporting thresholds in order to be covered by the municipal and business waste management surveys. As such, very small waste collection operations may not be covered.

For key results on waste management, please refer to Solid waste diversion and disposal from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

For visuals of waste management data, please refer to Solid waste diversion and disposal from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

• Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production (Sustainable Development Goals, January 25, 2024)

• Record amount of residential waste in 2020, but more was diverted (StatsCAN Plus, July 10, 2023)
• For key results on waste management, please refer to Solid waste diversion and disposal from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Diverting waste by recycling and composting can help reduce the impact of solid waste on the environment. Currently, most garbage collected for disposal ends up in landfills and a small amount is incinerated. This can lead to air emissions, land disturbance and water pollution. The extraction and processing of new resources needed to replace those discarded as waste leads to more pollution.

For more information about solid waste diversion by type of material (e.g. paper, organics, plastics) please refer to Environment and Climate Change Canada's web page Solid waste diversion and disposal (see Type of material tab).