Djeneba Dosso
LJI Reporter
In theme with the Quebec Waste Reduction Week, the City of Gatineau has invited companies to take part in an online consultation offering a toolbox to implement better waste management.
Industries, businesses and institutions will have between November 23 and December 11 to attend a consultation on two draft regulations. The first seeks to enforce composting and recycling while the second intends to prohibit or at the very least, regulate certain single-use plastics within Gatineau companies.
This initiative comes as part of the City’s Residual Materials Management Plan (RMSP) set to be carried out until 2029. The plan was adopted in February 2023 following public consultations that found 87 per cent of respondents were in favour of a municipal regulation governing single-use plastics and another 97 per cent agreeing that the City require companies to recycle and compost.
“As soon as the RMSP 2023-2029 was adopted, Gatineau made a commitment to accompany the population and the industries, businesses and institutions of its territory in the integration of new measures, by informing and guiding them,” said Marc Bureau, president of the Committee on Environment and Climate Change. “Thus, I invite them to take advantage of the tools offered to them free of charge and to participate in large numbers in the online consultation, since their opinion counts.”
The objective of the consultation is to better understand the challenges companies face in terms of waste management in order to determine how the City “should proceed so that the application of future regulations is as harmonious as possible.”
Additionally, posters, showcase stickers and various visuals against single-use plastics are available free of charge to be displayed or shared with customers. They can be ordered at gatineau.ca/plastic and will be delivered by mail within 10 business days.
The ultimate goal of the City’s RSMP is to eventually make Gatineau a zero-waste city that “recycles and recovers 100 per cent of its materials by 2050.”