Environmental Trends 2007

Population and Economic Activity

Municipal Solid Waste Disposed and Recycled Per Person in British Columbia

The annual amount of solid waste disposed of per capita directly reflects consumption patterns and represents a lost opportunity to keep material resources from ending in landfills. Waste sent to landfills is a potential source of contamination for groundwater, soil, and the air.

The amount of waste disposed of and recycled per person in B.C. has changed little in the past decade.

Sources: MSW data: RCBC 2004 and RCBC 2007; population statistics: BC Stats 2006.

Recycling and waste diversion programs that reduce the amount of solid waste disposed of in landfills have been in place in some parts of the province for more than 15 years.

• These programs have kept current amounts of disposed waste per person lower than in 1990, however, these figures have remained essentially unchanged over the last decade. In 2005, solid waste sent to landfills averaged 663 kilograms per person.

• The programs have succeeded in keeping the total amount of disposed waste in B.C. today ( 2.82 million tonnes) to about the same total volume as in 1990 ( 2.89 million tonnes).

There is concern that the rate of total municipal solid waste disposed of has recently exceeded the rate of population increase. Between 2004 and 2005, the population increased by 1.25 per cent, but there was a 3.9 per cent increase in the amount of waste that ended up in landfills and incinerators.

For detailed information, including graph data, see In-Depth Report [pdf].

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