The Environmental Life-Cycle Analysis computer model, developed by EPIC and Corporations Supporting Recycling, will be used to help municipalities evaluate the environmental burdens and economic impacts of their various waste management options. The Strategy is supporting energy recovery options that can divert unrecycled or unrecyclable waste plastics from landfill in an environmentally sound manner. Plastic still contains most of the energy in the natural gas from which it was manufactured. Recovering the waste energy from this material reduces the consumption of new energy sources. A multi-stakeholder Task Force formed in late 1997 is in the process of implementing the Strategy.
Strategy implementation is ultimately a municipal decision.
Other members of the Strategy implementation Task Force include, the plastics industry, environmental, research and industry groups, the Recycling Council of Alberta, as well as the Provincial government through Action on Waste. Strategy Implementation is estimated to be a three-year process, which began in late 1997. The Strategy is now in the second year of implementation. Due to the strong support of Alberta municipalities and the Honorable Ty Lund, Minister of Environmental Protection, the Strategy implementation action plan has resulted in some very promising accomplishments . . . . The Task Force identified plastic milk containers as the largest single source of recyclable plastic that municipalities handle.