Biennial Waste Management Industry Survey

Summary of changes

Activity on this program started: 1995

Reference period of change - 2002

Target population - As of reference year 2002, the industry classification is based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2002.

Reference period of change - 2000

Prior to 1998, the quantity of solid waste exports to the United States was not very significant. In accordance with definitions developed through work with the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment in the late 1980's, the quantities of these exported wastes were not counted as disposal. Only those materials deposited into Canadian landfills or incinerated in Canadian facilities were counted as part of the total amount of sold waste disposed in Canada.

In the two years leading up to the closure of a major southern Ontario landfill in 2002, solid waste exports to Michigan and upstate New York rapidly increased. Therefore, a decision was made to now include these quantities in the disposal totals. Not doing so would have resulted in a large underestimation of the Ontario and Canadian solid waste disposal totals.

Prior to 2000 the export number was suppressed due to reasons of confidentiality, so a historical revision of 1994, 1996 and 1998 disposal totals was not possible. Therefore data users should be aware that comparisons with pre-2000 disposal data with those from 2000 onward should be made with caution as the pre-2000 disposal quantities -- especially for Ontario -- are underestimated.

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