Zero Discharge

The first issue the NDG tackled after its launch in 1990 was toxic substances emissions. After almost a year of often heated debate, all members endorsed a document entitled Reducing and Eliminating Toxic Substances Emissions: An Action Plan for Canada (see link below). The action plan included the establishment of a national emissions inventory, the sunsetting of particularly toxic substances and a reduction of emissions from all sources. It called upon the federal government to establish a multistakeholder body to develop a process for achieving the reductions/emissions set out in the action plan. The federal Minister of the Environment of the day, the Honourable Jean Charest, embraced the NDG's action plan; it became the basis for the Accelerated Reduction and Elimination of Toxics (ARET) program administered by Environment Canada.

The following organizations endorsed this report: Bluewing Corporation, Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, Canadian Nature Federation, Canadian Participatory Committee for UNCED, Centre for Our Common Future, Dominion Textiles Inc., Dow Chemical Canada Inc., E.B. Eddy Forest Products Limited, Friends of the Earth, Noranda Inc., Noranda Forest Inc., Nova Corporation of Alberta, Pollution Probe, Rawson Academy of Aquatic Science, Royal Society of Canada, and the Whitehorse Conservation Society.

Project report:

Reducing and Eliminating Toxic Substances Emissions: An Action Plan for Canada
(pdf, 26 KB)