CANADA

Hazardous heritage

No area escapes waste dumping —

By RICHARD LANE

A study by a consulting firm (Gore &
Storrie) on the hazardous wastes in
Canada was released in 1982 by
Environment Canada. Ontario produces
almost 50 per cent of the 3.3 million ton-
nes of annual hazardous wastes produc-
tion in Canada; Quebec produces 30 per
-cent, while the western provinces con-
tribute 16 per cent (B.C. 8 per cent, Al-
berta 6 per cent), and the maritimes 5 per
cent (N.S. 3 per cent). A large portion of
Canada’s hazardous wastes are pro-
duced in Canada’s two largest industrial
areas, Toronto and Hamilton (25 per
cent) and Montreal (15 per cent). Thus
more than 40 per cent of Canadian
hazardous wastes are produced in the
environs of these three cities.

Although these are the main produc-
tion centres of wastes, all Canadians are
involved with hazardous waste contacts
through water, ground and surface,
transportation corridors, air, land, and
food contamination.

Newfoundland — Industries produce a
total 21,000 tonnes of hazardous wastes
per year of which almost 95 per cent come

Industrial sources

Almost all industries participate in
jucing hazardous wastes. The
following are the main polluters:

Pesticide Wastes (insecticides,
herbicides, and fungicides) — the
majority originate from pesticides,
forestry, agriculture, and urban land-
scaping industries.

Polychlorinated Biphenols (PCBs)
— no longer produced or sold. How-
ever, large quantities are still present
in insulating fluid for electrical
equipment and create a major dis-
posal probiem.

Cyanide Wastes — from metal
finishing (electroplating), elec-
tronics, aerospace, machinery indus-
try, mining, metal heat-treating and
man .

Toxic Metal Wastes — (arsenic,
barium, cadmium, chromium, lead,
mercury, selenium, and silver) —
from metal smelting, wood preserva-
tives, pesticide manufacture, paint
production, electroplating, battery
manufacture, chromate manufac-
ture, phosphoric acid production,
leather tanning, textiles, petroleum
tefining, inorganic mercury com-
pounds manufacture, alkyl lead
compounds manufacture, pharma-
ceuticals, printing ink production,
photocopying equipment manufac-
ture, chlorine production in mercury
cells, copper, zinc and lead produc-
tion, electrical appliances and glass
manufacture.

Halogenated Organics (chlorine,
bromine, or fluorine combined with
hydrocarbon compounds) — from in-
dustrial organic compounds, elec-
tronics industry, aerospace industry,
plastics industry, and machinery in-

dustry.

Non-Halogenated Volatile Or-
ganics (hydrocarbon solvents, al-
cohols, aldehydes, and ketones) —
from petroleum refining, plastics,
industrial inorganic chemicals indus-
try, — aerospace industry, and
machinery industry.

Radioactive Wastes (Radio-
isotopes of uranium, thorium, stron-
tium and other elements) — from
electrical power industry, mining
industry, and radio-isotope industry.
(adapted from Jackson & Weller 1982)

from a Long Harbor phosphorous manu-
facturer.

Prince Edward Island — A CIL plant
produces half of PEI’s hazardous wastes
—only 400 tonnes per year. There is PCB
storage in Charlottetown electrical build-
ing. PEI’s environment ministry is look-
ing into PCB transport and storage. A
recent survey showed 13,200 gallons of
PCBs in operating transformers in PEI

and nearly 3,000 gallons being kept in

storage.

New Brunswick — Industries produce
47,000 tonnes per year of which Irving Oil
Refineries at Saint John produce 40 per
cent. Six pulp and paper mills together
produce another 33 per cent. Chemicals
from the potash, aluminum, plastics and
chemical industries also contribute sub-
stantially to the totals. In 1982, the N.B.
Environment Department admitted that
less than 20 per cent of hazardous wastes
in the province are disposed of in an
environmentally sound manner.

Nova Scotia — Industries produce
107,000 tonnes, nearly half from the fed-
eral heavy water plants which are
scheduled for closure by the Mulroney
government. Sydney steel plant produces
30 per cent of the total. Print sludge, latex
and pesticide wastes from plants near
Halifax are also large contributers. N.S.
has almost 64,000 gallons of PCBs still in
use and has 4,400 gallons in storage at 90
Sites.

Quebec — Quebec industry has the
second largest production of hazardous
wastes in Canada; almost one million
tonnes per year, more than half of it pro-
duced by the chemical industry (sol-
vents, insecticides, chemicals and explo-
sives). Metal industry wastes are also a
major contributor. More than 5,000

Quebec companies were asked to hold -

hazardous wastes on their own proper-
ties in the early 1980s because Quebec
lacked suitable treatment facilities. A
new physical treatment and solidification
plant for organic wastes and landfill has
been built by Stablex at Blainville, 24 km
north of Montreal. 139,000 gallons of
PCBs are in use and in storage facilities in
the province. Earlier this year the
Quebec Government had to authorize a
further 50,000 gallons of PCB commer-
sel storage because all legal space was

ll.

Ontario — Ontario produces almost
half of Canada’s hazardous wastes; an
estimated 1,600,000 tonnes per year. Re-
forms of Ontario’s control of hazardous
wastes through new legislation were in-
troduced in the death throes of the Con-
servative government in June. The Con-
servatives for 42 years allowed Ontario
to become one of the worst polluted parts
of North America. Although a provincial
waste management corporation was set
up in 1980 little was accomplished. Now

eo ih tos pesticide cass.
produce hazardous wastes as process.

_ losses or as a by-product; the use of —

pesticides by the farm and forestry
industries also pollutes the environ-

ment and peoplethroughover-sprayand .
as toxic pollutants on foods as spray

‘residues.

Most industries produce a sccoud ur’
even n third =— of a .

Ontario’s new Liberal government is
forcing unsatisfactory disposal sites and
poor disposal plans on communities.
There is no accurate inventory of
hazardous wastes to show which indus-
tries pump them out or the volumes in-
volved. 1,300,000 gallons of PCBs are in
use; another 330,000 gallons are stored at
148 Metro Toronto locations and at sites
in another 180 Ontario communities.

Manitoba — Industries produce 29,000
tonnes of hazardous wastes per year.
Two oil refineries near Winnipeg pro-
duce a third of this. Tanneries, plastics
manufacturers, and the pulp and paper
industry produce most of the rest. Land
fills are, as inthe rest of Canada, the main
repositories of Manitoba’s hazardous
wastes. Almost 100,000 gallons of PCBs
are still in use in Manitoba whilé 4,000
gallons are in storage in the province.

Saskatchewan — Industries produce
30,000 tonnes of hazardous wastes per
year. Almost one-half comes from a steel
pipe manufacturer in Regina. Oil refin-
ing, chemical production, and fertilizer
manufacture produce a large part of the
rest. Most wastes go into land fills. There
are 650 dump sites in the province.
Ground water below Saskatoon is con-
taminated with chemical wastes dis-
posed of in deep wells between 1963 and
1977. In 1984 an act of Saskatchewan
legislature established a spill response
unit with a 24-hour hot line for spills
reports.

Alberta — Alberta produces 216,000
tonnes of hazardous wastes per year.
Chemical wastes (acids, alkalis,
methonol, ethylene, acetate and fer-
tilizer) make up 60 per cent of the total. In
the early 1980s there was much criticism
of Alberta’s handling of the problem. The
Environmental Council of Alberta con-
tended that, ‘‘disposal of solid and liquid
wastes on land is largely uncontrolled by
legislation. Large volumes of the solids,
sludges and liquids are put directly into
land fills which are not suitable for them

.. There are no protective measures to
isolate the landfill operation from the
environment beneath.”’ After a 1982
Council report the government created a
crown cortoration to oversee hazardous
wastes management and, amendments to
the Hazardous Chemicals Act have been

"Some products, tke DDT. and nd PCE,

have become hazardous wastes as are- _
sult of government regulation or re- _
strictions. Since there are no safe'de- _

struction facilities in Canada, PCBsare
necessarily being stored, often unsafe-
ly, in large quantities all acrossCanada

even though their use innew goods and _

es een banned ‘since

ae

made. Alberta is the only province to
establish a hazardous waste disposal
plant. Now half of these wastes are being

disposed of on the factory sites where —

they are produced. In 1987 a $30-million

plant will open at Swan Hills, 160 km ~
northwest of Edmonton, and willdestroy ©

20,000 to 40,000 tonnes of hazardous
wastes (including PCBs) each year. Be-

cause of the Nisku PCB site, which pre- —
viously accepted PCBs for storage from —
all across Canada, Alberta has 1,200,000 —

gallons in storage.

British Columbia — Industries pro- —
duce 275,000 tonnes of hazardous wastes —
per year. Half are metal wastes with the —

aluminum smelter at Kitimat and two

smelters and refineries at Richmond the ~
main contributors. A B.C. Government

report of 1981 said the lower Fraser River
is ‘‘a filthy mess of illegal dumping and
toxic wastes piling up for 25 years.’
According to Environment Canada

‘B.C. does not have a secure landfill cap-

able of accepting hazardous wastes.
Most hazardous wastes are put into

landfills. Pesticides and PCBs were col- —

lected and stored at Kamloops by the
government for transporting to an Ore-
gon landfill. In 1982 the B.C. government

wrote 22 companies to ask for proposals ~
for a B.C. waste disposal facility. A ~
hazardous wastes bill passed that year, —
the Waste Management Act, providing —

for waste treatment facilities, a cradle to
grave tacking system, a maximum fine
for illegal polluters of $50,000 a day, and

the mandatory reporting of spills. B.C.
has by-passed an integrated Canada dis-
posal system to go it alone. The Act al-—

lows the minister to make changes to
pollution permits and to extend deadlines
for compliance. The government itself
has termed its action ‘‘an attempt to
move the government from a strictly

regulatory role i in pollution control to a !
Early in 1985 it was —

managerial role.”’
reported that the B.C. government will
soon introduce a system of storage per-
mits for chemical wastes (including
PCBs).

Next: Where wastes go and how they get

there.
Richard Lane is the a of a work-

ing scientist.

tries.

the nulcear arms race’’.

The physicians have called nuclear war ‘“‘the final
epidemic”’ and have prescribed an immediate moratorium on
- all nuclear explosions as the ‘‘first essential step in stopping

Both renowned cardiologists Lown and Chazov are long-
standing friends who first met in the early 1970s working on a

Physicians awarded Nobel prize

TORONTO — Two leaders of the organization awarded this
year’s Nobel Peace Prize, International Physicians for the
Prevention of Nuclear War, will be in the city, Nov. 3 to
deliver their ‘‘prescription for peace’’ at a gala dinner.

U.S. physician Dr Bernard Lown and Dr. Evgueni Chazov
of the USSR, co-founded IPPNW in 1980. Dedicated to mobil-
izing the influence of the medical profession against the threat
of nuclear weapons, it now has 135,000 member in 41 coun-

joint Soviet-American research project into heart disease. The
rapid deterioration of relations between their two countries
during the Carter and Reagan administrations lead them to
found the organization.

Dr. Lownisa professor of cardiology at the Harvard School
of public health and a pioneer in the research of sudden cardiac
death. Dr. Chazov has been the USSR’s deputy minister of
health since 1967. He has been a member of the USSR Sup-
reme Soviet for the past 10 years and is Director-General of the
Soviet Cardiology Research Centre.

The doctors are in Canada to receive an honorary degree
from Queen’s University, Kingston and will be featured
speakers at the fund-raising dinner organized by IPPNW’s
Canadian affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility.

For tickets contact 593-6828.

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 23, 1985

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