What’s the relevance of a documentary denouncing the way in which Quebecers manage their garbage?
First of all, after all our efforts, after millions of dollars invested in public awareness campaigns and aid programs to our recycling business, the problem, not to say the scandal, remains whole: Quebec is still among the world’s worst wasteful societies, the Government’s plan of action for waste management 1998-2008 has ended in a resounding failure and massive and reckless burial in landfill sights is flourishing. In fact, since 1995, no Government has had the political will and courage to address the real issue: the presence, in the Province, of a few mega landfills, belonging to very rich and powerful companies, forming a true cartel of trash that thrives on peoples’ wasting bad habits. For these « Trash Kings », each ton of recycled or composted matter diverted from their landfills means a financial loss.
Secondly, 2009 is a pivotal year for Waste management in Quebec. This fall, our Environment Minister will indeed launch with great pomp the Government’s new policy for waste management; an ambitious ten year plan with unbelievable objectives for recuperation and recycling. The only snag is that the Minister knows very well that such a plan is doomed from the start. Consistent with a long tradition of cynicism, this same Minister has just made public, in the middle of July holidays, by means of a simple press release, decrees allowing two mega landfills in the Montreal region to bury over a million tons of garbage a year for the next five years. A little while back, other decrees extended the “useful life” of two other mega landfills way beyond 2009.
To be followed... Script and direction: Denis Blaquière; production: Carmen Garcia, ARGUS FILMS.