Last year, the Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) embarked on a major data collection
and analysis initiative to better understand data related to waste management in the province. This
initial State of Waste Report will become an annual publication, which will be expanded and refined
based on the needs of the sector.
This data will be helpful in shaping future policy decisions for the waste management sector; enable
those in the industry to make better business decisions; and provides better information to inform and
educate the broader public. The initial data collected questions many assumptions such as the
available remaining capacity in landfills and the amount of waste disposed of annually. It is important
to underline that this first report offers just a hint of the utility of this new database to analyze data in
the sector. Before more complicated analysis can be done, it is important to ensure the rigour in the
data. While the database is more comprehensive and accurate than anything currently in place, this
will be a continuous process of adding to and refining it. It is also important to ensure data is being
captured and analyzed in the most accurate manner – this becomes increasingly important as waste
composition changes over time.
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