Governing Household Waste Management: An Empirical Analysis and Critique

Abstract

Environmental Values Environmental Values is an international peer-reviewed journal that brings together contributions from philosophy, economics, politics, sociology, geography, anthropology, ecology and other disciplines, which relate to the present and future environment of human beings and other species. In doing so we aim to clarify the relationship between practical policy issues and more fundamental underlying principles or assumptions.

Modes of governing Canadian waste management: a case study of Metro Vancouver’s energy-from-waste controversy

“…In contrast to the EU, WM responsibility and decision-making in Canada takes place primarily at the municipal or regional district level with little federal or provincial involvement beyond general regulations and guidelines (Darier, 1996a;Lougheed et al, 2016). In BC, individual, largely autonomous, regional districts formulate Integrated Solid Waste and Resource Management Plans (ISWRMP) that the province approves or denies based on their compliance with a broad set of provincial criteria.…”

“…It is of vital social scientific interest, therefore, to better understand how current neoliberal governance, and specifically the devolution of governing waste to regional districts and municipalities, creates significant challenges to the development of future WM and waste infrastructure (see also: Lougheed et al, 2016). In what has been called a 'governance turn' (Chhotray & Stoker, 2010, p. 7) over the last three decades, the concept of governance is now the focus of much social science research (Pierre & Peters, 2000).…”

“…The move from the nation-state as the central pillar for directing or steering public affairs to a more variegated and decentralized set of actors and governing efforts has necessitated new ways of conceptualizing and analysing how society is governed (Hobson & Hill, 2010;Rhodes, 1996). In Canada this has manifested in the devolution of environmental responsibility and rescaling many aspects of governing to increasingly lower levels of government and to individuals (Darier, 1996a;Lougheed et al, 2016). Following a broader neoliberal trend, the state is moving away from being a direct provider of social resources and services and increasingly moved towards a role of 'steering' and facilitating conditions favourable to the development of self-organizing governance networks that fulfil the role formerly occupied by the state (Dean, 2007;Murdoch, 2000;Rhodes, 1996).…”

“…Like other Canadian municipalities, MV responded to dwindling landfill space and increasing costs by initiating an ambitious waste diversion campaign and proposing an expansion of EfW capacity concurrent with this diversion campaign (Government of British Columbia, 2014b; Metro Vancouver, 2010; for case studies in other Canadian municipalities see: Hird et al, 2014;Lougheed et al, 2016). Significant opposition to previous proposals to expand the region's two landfills and the proposal to increase the region's EfW capacity put the proposals on hold.…”

“…The growing trend to conceptualize waste as a resourceparticularly as a source of energy and revenue -is encountering both strident proponents and opponents. While energy-from-waste (EfW) technology is well established across Europe with over 300 EfW plants there are only 6 such facilities in Canada (Giroux Environmental Consulting, 2014), despite growing evidence that members of the public now view incineration more favourably than landfilling (Baxter, Ho, Rollins, & Maclaren, 2016;Lougheed, Hird, & Rowe, 2016). While there was no shortage of opposition to EfW across the EU, various EUmandated initiatives (including the Landfill Directive in 1999) have pushed national and local governments away from landfilling and towards EfW (Bulkeley, Watson, & Hudson, 2007;European Commission, 2016).…”