County targets 77 per cent diversion by 2030

Critic says strategy approved by council just isn’t good enough
By John Edwards Simcoe.com July 6 2010 — SIMCOE COUNTY – The County of Simcoe’s new waste-management strategy focuses on diversion, but another landfill site could begin operating in Clearview Township under the plan.
The strategy, developed by the waste-management steering committee over the past year, was one result of the controversy over the now-abandoned Site 41 landfill proposal.  The group held a series of public information sessions before developing the plan.

County council approved the concept at a special meeting June 29, but the individual components, such as where to send waste and whether to expand landfill sites, will also have to be approved.
The main focus of the strategy is waste diversion. With recycling and organics collection, the county diverts about 55 per cent of its waste. Under the proposed plan, that number would climb to 71 per cent by 2020 and 77 per cent by 2030.
In order to achieve this goal, 80 to 90 per cent of all households would have to divert all possible waste 80 to 90 per cent of the time.
Clearview Deputy Mayor Alicia Savage said she was pleased with the plan, saying it’s comprehensive and “doable.”
“Seventy-seven per cent is achievable,” she said. “It’s going to require huge change from our residents.”
Currently, the county produces 89,200 tonnes of garbage per year; under the waste-management strategy, this would drop to 52,000 by 2030.
The plan also calls for no bulky-item collection and, if the organics collection continues to grow, a reduction in standard garbage collection to once every other week.
The county currently ships its organic waste to a site in Hamilton. The preferred option under the waste-management strategy is for the county to construct its own facility by 2017. Willma Bureau, contract and program supervisor for the county’s environmental services department, said this would likely be done with a partner.
The strategy also calls for no new landfills, but the county currently has a facility in Clearview Township, east of Sunnidale Corners, that is not operating. Savage, noting the landfill has a capacity of about 800,000 tonnes, said she wouldn’t be against the idea of reopening the dump.
“I think it might be something we’re going to have to look at,” she said.
Gord McKay, chair of Zero Waste Simcoe, a local organization dedicated to making the county a zero-waste community, said the strategy is a positive step, but it still falls short.
“The document has many options that could lead us towards zero waste. However, it limits that initiative by setting a 77 per cent diversion target by 2030. Twenty years from now, we will still be generating 50,000 tonnes of garbage a year,” he stated in a press release. “If we set stretch targets and actively engage the residents of Simcoe County, we can move more rapidly towards zero waste.”