While the debate over the validity and potential causes of global warming continues to rage in the scientific community, the effects of human population growth on the planet cannot be argued. The expansion and development of cities all over North America has led to problems dealing with the enormous mountains of waste that is generated on a weekly basis, both from residential and commercial sources. We are now beginning to see the irreparable damage of past waste management decisions that often relied on landfills and waste burial systems. These outdated processes havecontributed to environmental problems such as habitat destruction, surface and groundwater pollution and numerous other forms of air, soil, and water contamination. From both residential and commercial sources, waste needs to be dealt with new and improved systems.
As cities continue to grow, new alternatives are being developed and municipalities and independent companies are working hard to improve their waste management processes. In a recent study conducted in 2008, Canada earned a €D€ for municipal waste generated per capita and ranked last among its peers in other developed countries. It seems as though all that room we had to dump our waste is no longer available, and thankfully there are revolutionary companies that are literally saving the planet one tonne of recycled material at a time.
At the forefront of this progressive change areSustainable Materials Management Companies. (SMMC). Simply put, such an entity is dedicated to the collection, processingand reclamation of discarded materials. It can be difficult to fully understand what this process entails and why such a company truly stands out against typical €waste management' companies, but there are many reasons. Simply put, they offer clients (from both the commercial and residential sectors) a complete, closed loop approach to the collection and removal of discarded materials from any given facility, commercial building or residential area. That's just the beginning.
Whether your business is a manufacturing facility, a shipping and distribution centre or a commercial shopping mall, there can be a huge variety of unwanted and discarded materials that must be effectively removed from your site. Sustainable material management encompasses the role of traditional waste management collection companies, the processing facilities and the business network used to get the most value for the recovered materials possible, all under one roof. These unique branches all work together to streamline the recovery and separation process for recovered materials. This has allowed an SMMC to effectively create a €closed loop' system for discarded materials, and municipalities and independent companies are both benefitting with lowered costs and less-full landfills. SMMCs allow for many different types of materials to be diverted away from landfills to their own processing plants, where waste is collected, sorted and prepared for shipment to be re-used as raw materials for new products.
Since SMMCs have been improving the waste removal process for companies and municipalities, the results have been very encouraging. The largest increase of diverted materials came from electronic materials, which is up 115% in recent years when compared to studies completed in Canada before 2008. Plastic materials had the second largest increase in diversion, up 40% in the same time period. However, paper fibres, including newsprint, cardboard and mixed paper fibres make up the largest portion of all diverted materials accounting for 41% of all diverted materials on the whole. As more and more companies and municipalities begin to contact and work with a SMMC, we can expect to see these numbers increase along with the types of materials that can be recycled.
As cities continue to grow, new alternatives are being developed and municipalities and independent companies are working hard to improve their waste management processes. In a recent study conducted in 2008, Canada earned a €D€ for municipal waste generated per capita and ranked last among its peers in other developed countries. It seems as though all that room we had to dump our waste is no longer available, and thankfully there are revolutionary companies that are literally saving the planet one tonne of recycled material at a time.
At the forefront of this progressive change areSustainable Materials Management Companies. (SMMC). Simply put, such an entity is dedicated to the collection, processingand reclamation of discarded materials. It can be difficult to fully understand what this process entails and why such a company truly stands out against typical €waste management' companies, but there are many reasons. Simply put, they offer clients (from both the commercial and residential sectors) a complete, closed loop approach to the collection and removal of discarded materials from any given facility, commercial building or residential area. That's just the beginning.
Whether your business is a manufacturing facility, a shipping and distribution centre or a commercial shopping mall, there can be a huge variety of unwanted and discarded materials that must be effectively removed from your site. Sustainable material management encompasses the role of traditional waste management collection companies, the processing facilities and the business network used to get the most value for the recovered materials possible, all under one roof. These unique branches all work together to streamline the recovery and separation process for recovered materials. This has allowed an SMMC to effectively create a €closed loop' system for discarded materials, and municipalities and independent companies are both benefitting with lowered costs and less-full landfills. SMMCs allow for many different types of materials to be diverted away from landfills to their own processing plants, where waste is collected, sorted and prepared for shipment to be re-used as raw materials for new products.
Since SMMCs have been improving the waste removal process for companies and municipalities, the results have been very encouraging. The largest increase of diverted materials came from electronic materials, which is up 115% in recent years when compared to studies completed in Canada before 2008. Plastic materials had the second largest increase in diversion, up 40% in the same time period. However, paper fibres, including newsprint, cardboard and mixed paper fibres make up the largest portion of all diverted materials accounting for 41% of all diverted materials on the whole. As more and more companies and municipalities begin to contact and work with a SMMC, we can expect to see these numbers increase along with the types of materials that can be recycled.
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