• Protecting Water and Farmland in Simcoe County

Site 41 laid to rest

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In Simcoe County
Jun 14th, 2010
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Toronto Star May 29 2010
The fight to build a controversial landfill site in Simcoe County is officially over. Earlier this week, the province waved a white flag and revoked its certificate of approval for Dump Site 41. To applause from project opponents, gathered to witness the occasion, county council voted Tuesday to rezone this 20-hectare tract for agricultural use, thus ending a caustic dispute that cost millions of dollars and included an occupation of the land and arrests.
Members of the tight-knit coalition of environmentalists, native activists, farmers, concerned seniors and cottagers who successfully fought the dump have every right to celebrate. Their arguments ultimately carried the day. But nothing has changed on another key front: garbage is still being churned out — tonnes upon tonnes of it — in every Ontario community, including the townships of Tay and Tiny and the towns of Penetanguishene and Midland, which were supposed to send their waste to Dump 41. It’s not clear, now, where that garbage will go.
It’s a question that looms across the province as existing landfill sites creep closer to full capacity. The saga of Site 41 shows just how hard it is to develop new sites to bury waste.
Site 41, in Tiny Township northwest of Barrie, was designated for use as a dump in 1985. It received environmental approvals in 1995, and a provincial certificate of approval in 1998. County council supported proceeding with the landfill in 2007, and efforts began to ready the site to accept trash. After all that, and an estimated $13 million spent on preparatory work, the dump site has now been killed.
One can’t help wondering if it has become impossible to open a new landfill site anywhere in Ontario, given community concerns. That underscores the essential nature of recycling programs, diverting waste from landfill, and — even more important — of finding new ways to make less trash in the first place.

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