Though IRR focuses on reuse, recycling, and recovery of resources, the purpose of doing so is to avoid consuming new resources, and ultimately to dispose of even less. This is illustrated in the Pollution Prevention Hierarchy diagram above.Integrated Resource Recovery (IRR) is an approach and a set of tools for planning and managing community infrastructure to maximize the recovery of value from waste resources.
In April of 2009, the Ministry of Community & Rural Development released a report entitled Resources from Waste: A Guide to Integrated Resource Recovery in order to assist local governments to plan and implement a wide range of IRR projects. The Guide expands on a preliminary study released one year previously.

Benefits of Integrated Resource Recovery:

•    Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
•    Reduce pollution and divert waste from municipal, industrial, and resource sectors to beneficial uses
•    Reduce demand for new resources and infrastructure by providing local sources of clean energy, nutrients, and water
•    Delay or offset the purchase or expansion of infrastructure
•    Generate new economic opportunities and new sources of revenue

Though Integrated Resource Recovery focuses on reuse, recycling, and recovery of resources, the purpose of doing so is to avoid consuming new resources, and ultimately to dispose of even less. This is illustrated in the Pollution Prevention Hierarchy diagram above.

IRR can assist in implementing a number of Provincial strategies, including the Climate Action Plan, the Energy Plan, the Bioenergy Strategy, the Air Action Plan, the Energy Efficient Building Strategy, Living Water Smart, and the Agricultural Plan.

For more information please see the IRR section of the Ministry of Community and Rural Development website.