(Montreal) The Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) has launched a commission of inquiry into the long-term management of final waste.
At the request of the Minister of Environment and Combating Climate Change, Benoit Sharett, BAPE should determine the current state of waste management, and what lies ahead in the next twenty years.
By final waste, BAPE means any waste that is found at the end of the screening, recovery and development cycle.
At a hypothetical press conference on Sunday, the Chair of the Commission, Joseph Zayed, specified that the volume of landfill from leftover materials per inhabitant has decreased very slightly in recent years.
“In 2012, the total remaining landfill was 725 kilograms per capita. In 2018, the remaining items totaled 700 kilograms per inhabitant. ”
He added, “Our goal as a body is precisely to shed light on the main trends and define them over time horizons from five to ten years and future projects, as the minister asks us, over the next twenty years.”
Mr. Zayed will be supported by Commissioner Julie Forget and Pierre Renault.
Since this is a commission of inquiry that covers the entire region, the Plenary Office added a step to its consultations. A representative of the Quebec Residents’ Assembly will be organized after the public hearings.
Commissioner Forget explained: “This is the first time that it has been used because it is a mandate with a national scope, and therefore because there is a national scope, the committee felt it needed to obtain comments from a representative group of the population.”
“We want comments from a diverse audience.”
Indigenous communities will also be consulted.
BAPE will begin its mandate on March 8 and public hearings will begin on March 23. During these few months, the committee will also send questionnaires to disposal site managers, and reflection workshops will also be organized.
The report must be submitted to the minister on December 22nd.
In its 2019-2024 action plan, the Quebec government has set itself a target to reduce material disposable per capita to 525 kg or less by 2023.
