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The article explains that mandating the municipalities to collect the rubbish, which are manufactured items such as bottles, clothing and paper, in Canada a hundred years ago appears to be a mistake. Public policy should have required producers to offer customers a service for returning products for recycling. Several provinces now are experimenting on alternatives.

The article presents milestones in waste management in Canada. In 1993, the Alberta oil industry launched a program for collecting used oil for recycling. In 1994, paint producers were mandated by law to get back old paint for recycling in British Columbia. In 1995, Manitoba created the Multi-Material Stewardship Board to collect fees from the beverage industry in order to subsidize municipal recycling programs.

The article reports on the waste management at textile industry in Canada. It highlights the opportunities that the circular economic strategy provided to its stakeholder to stop the lifecycle loop of the garment. Also mentioned is the significant participation of stakeholders involved in the aspect of an item's lifecycle.

The article compares the refuse disposal system being used in Toronto, Canada, to the system being applied in Siem Reap, Cambodia. In Siem Reap, unrecycled waste is thrown in the river, buried, littered or burned. This is not done in Toronto but the city's waste-related problems has let a different set of unsustainable processes. In Siem Reap, there are few recyclables in the waste stream because they are usually sold. In Toronto, its blue box and gray bin programs have been successful, but is still much room for improvement.

The article discusses the common sense measures being followed by the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary in Canada which will lead to zero waste in the future. These include: the prohibition of the disposal of recyclable materials; extended producer responsibility programs; user-pay garbage collection systems; the creation of community partnerships; and the removal of compostable material from the waste stream.