Survey of Existing Facilities to Determine Significant Issues Influencing the Planning Process for the Siting of a Hazardous Waste Management Facility in Canada

Canada is experiencing an increased demand for the safe handling and disposal of hazardous waste. This study was undertaken to accomplish a two fold purpose: firstly, to understand of the present hazardous waste siting situations within Canada; and secondly, to produce a set of criteria as facility siting guidelines. The areas examined within this study include: Geological; Hydro-geological; Environmental; Land-Use; Social/Cultural; Legislative/Regulatory; Competitive; Transportation; Insurance; and, Geographical. In order to obtain the data for this research paper, a Canadian wide industry survey involving eight provinces was carried out. The response rate was seventy-two percent. It was found that the facility siting criteria fell into three distinct groupings. 1. Issues that are common to all locations; 2. Issues that are common primarily to the eastern provinces consisting of Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick to the western provinces consisting of British Columbia, Alberta Saskatchewan and Manitoba; and, 3. Issues that related specifically to the individual provinces. As a result of this study, the criteria for hazardous waste management facility siting were successfully developed. This newly developed tool will be valuable as a guideline to assist in the development of new companies and the expansion of existing facilities