Public members sought for waste steering committee

By Kate Harries WaterWatch October 27 2009
It’s full speed ahead for the county’s Waste Management Strategy (in sharp contradistinction to the portion of the Waste Management bylaw that has set punitive fines for behaviour like scavenging or unsatisfactory sorting of waste. The matter has been sent back to staff after adverse comment from a number of municipalities, and is expected to be back before county councillors in January.)
As for the Waste Management Strategy? Well, a key component is a waste steering committee proposed by Warden Tony Guergis at the last corporate services committee, a proposal that was approved by county council Tuesday morning.
By afternoon, the county’s waste management sub-committee, chaired by Severn Mayor Phil Sled, faced up to the prospect of taking urgent action. It did take some insistence from Adjala-Tosorontio Deputy Mayor Doug Little, who headed off the notion that any decision would have to go to the next corporate services committee meeting.
As Little pointed out, council had just handed authority to the sub-committee.
So after some comforting magisterial direction from CAO Mark Aitken, the committee made some decisions: staff would immediately advertise for public members of the committee. Up to three will be appointed at large (there is support for having an agricultural representative, and also someone from industry), plus a rep from Zero Waste Simcoe and another from the Adjala-Tosorontio Residents Association. Appointees will also be solicited from Barrie, Orillia, local First Nations, the province and the federal government.
The waste management sub-committee will meet November 18 to select public members and the first steering committee meeting (waste management sub-committee plus the new members) will be November 25 – when consultant Stantec will present its first report outlining the problem, setting goals, and defining the area (Simcoe County and, perhaps, partners outside the county.)
One of the steering committee’s first tasks will be to look at the consultant’s terms of reference, Aitken said.
The waste subcommittee heard a presentation from Stantec’s David Payne (project manager on the Durham-York incinerator environmental assessment) and Janine Ralph on their ideas. Ralph told the committee that the county has six to seven years of landfill capacity left, and “there is always some residual requiring landfill disposal.” (Stantec has been hired at a cost of $202,206,13. It was not the lowest bidder. Stantec commenced work for the county on Oct. 7.)