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Recycling battle will create another Site 41

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In Oro-Medonte
Jul 25th, 2010
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Letter to Barrie Examiner July 23 2010
(Re: ‘Recycling operation would be another Site 41, group says’ in the July 16 edition of the Examiner)
One wonders if councillor hopeful Gord Roehner realizes that Steve Ogden, his invited speaker for this meeting, is referring to essentially what already exists in Oro-Medonte Township.

The garbage that was intended for Site 41 is being trucked in and buried at Oro Landfill Site 11, just a short distance from Roehner’s home. This site is on the one section of the Oro Moraine that happens to be the headwaters for three watersheds.
One might expect Ogden would be coming to apologize for his part in causing the garbage from his municipality to be buried in a more environmentally sensitive location than Site 41.
Instead, it appears that he is coming to back the efforts of a small group of residents attempting to prevent studies being carried out on a potentially feasible site for recycling construction materials.
This seems contradictory for someone who received support for stopping Site 41 based on the premise that there was no need to create new landfill space by rapidly increasing recycling.
The county waste strategy report points out that without unprecedented recycling, the Oro dump site will reach capacity within seven years. Failing that, the backup plan is to build another cell on the Oro dump.
This means shifting the once proposed location of Site 41 from near where Ogden’s lives to Oro.
In supporting a group that is trying to prevent the recycling of benign construction materials, Ogden appears to no longer be concerned about creating new landfill space. Could this be because his garbage is now being buried in someone else’s backyard?
Ogden may have difficulty selling the idea that recycling is great, while at the same time opposing measures to determine the suitability of potential recycling locations. So too, will be the contention that there is no urgency in diverting recyclables to reusable products.
Stopping such studies would mean turning against all the residents of Oro-Medonte, who saw approximately $1 million of their taxes squandered while joining Ogden in his fight to stop Site 41.
Site 41 was to be built for the exclusive use of the surrounding municipalities. Oro- Medonte’s garbage could not have sent to that site.
It seems that Roehner and his group wants Ogden’s help to prevent the township from doing additional recycling. The result would be a new landfill cell being built to bury even more garbage on the Oro- Moraine. Len Leach Oro Station

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