Residual Materials

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“Residual material” is a generic term covering several major families of waste, including hazardous and non-hazardous material, biomedical waste, pesticides and fertilizing residual material.

On average, Quebecers generate 25 tonnes of non-hazardous residual material per minute. Despite the education efforts and the means offered to enable the public, municipalities and industrial, commercial and institutional establishments to reduce their goods production and reclaim their waste, too many consumer products are still finishing their life in disposal sites. The Québec Residual Materials Management Policy is part of the government’s plan to build a green economy. The 13 million-odd tons of residual materials produced in Québec annually hold undeniable potential to be used both in manufacturing goods and energy production. The Policy aims to create a no-waste society that seeks to maximize added value through the intelligent management of its residual materials, and has the fundamental objective of ensuring that the only residual material disposed of in Québec is ultimate waste.

The “Policy” section of this site contains the full text of the policy as well as various statistics. The “Non-Hazardous Material” section contains the laws, regulations, guidelines and directives relating to such material. Fact sheets on various types of residual material, as well guides and standards governing certain sectors of activity can also be found.

Hazardous materials take various forms and are part of our everyday life. Several raw materials such as solvents or chemical reagents, commonly used products such as gas or oven cleaners, and certain types of waste (used oil, industrial waste) are considered hazardous material. They are so called because they must be managed in a special way in order to prevent accidents or environmental contamination that could lead to the degradation of soil, water or air and affect flora, fauna and humans to varying degrees.

The “Hazardous Material” section gives access to the laws, regulations, guides, guidelines and directives regarding these materials. It also contains the documents and information needed by firms to produce the required reports or statements on the management of their hazardous residual material, and the related results.