Work together on waste, Atlantic provinces told

The four Atlantic provinces have been urged to collaborate on recycling stubborn products like paint and oil.

The report, by engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, recommended the four provinces form a strategy for sharing some recycling services, notably tonnes of discarded oil containers.

The region generates an estimated 68 million litres of used oil each year, not to mention more than 3,000 tonnes of used filters and empty containers.

However, officials underscore the figures are estimates because no tracking is done on how much oil is sold or collected.

Bob Kenney, a solid waste resource analyst with the Nova Scotia Environment Department, said the recommendations make sense.

"I think any co-operation that you can see between the Atlantic provinces would be a good thing," Kenney said.

"We're a small economy of scale, and by combining we can have larger economies of scale," he said.

Regional office recommended

The report, he said, also addresses a trend called extended producer responsibility, which puts an onus on manufacturers.

"Essentially, that's the way we want to go. In other words, make the producer — and the consumer to a degree — more responsible for the waste and the environmental implication of their product," he said.

Among other things, the report recommends setting up a regional office to co-ordinate recycling efforts between industry and government.

A co-ordinated recycling plan led by the provincial governments would spur change, said Pierre Landry, a general manager with Laurentide, a company that collects used paint in Nova Scotia and recycles it in Quebec.

"If governments don't establish a level playing field with backdrop regulations, manufacturers will never embrace recycling on their own," Landry said.

Recycling programs vary across the provinces. Most residents of Atlantic Canada, for instance, do not have access to year-round recycling programs for paints and other hazardous wastes.