Environment

The Municipal Government Act (MGA) requires that every Alberta municipality complete annual audited financial statements, a copy of which must be submitted to Municipal Affairs by May 1 of each year. The financial statements must be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for municipal governments in Canada, as set out in the Public Sector Accounting Handbook.

Municipalities can become liable for costs associated with brownfield sites under several circumstances.

Polluter pays principle

In the context of brownfield redevelopment, liability generally refers to environmental liability related to contamination.  In theory, Alberta follows the polluter pays principle as the Environmental Protection and Enforcement Act sets out the “responsibility of polluters to pay for the costs of their actions.”

The province most often deals with contaminated land as a “substance release” into the environment, which causes an adverse effect. A person responsible for a “substance release” can include:

If you are not for zero waste, how much waste are you for?

Definition

Final placement or riddance of wastes, under proper process and authority, by landfill or incineration.

Definition

Recovery uses various technologies to convert waste material into usable forms of energy, including heat, fuel, or electricity.

Definition

Recycling refers to diverting products from disposal at the end of their useful lives.  This includes sorting, transporting, and processing them to produce secondary sources of materials that are subsequently used in the production of new goods. 

Composting is considered to be a form of recycling and is defined as is a biological process that breaks down kitchen, lawn, and garden wastes into soil-like material called humus.