Facility will operate on gravel pit near Line 7

By Sara Ross, Orillia Packet & Times November 18, 2012

ORO-MEDONTE TWP. – Try Recycling, which has been working toward operating a collection and processing centre in Oro-Medonte since 2009, hopes to see a shovel in the ground by early summer.

“It’s been a long road,” Jim Graham, Try Recycling’s chief executive officer, said.

“The results are going to be something the majority of residents in Oro-Medonte will feel is protective of the environment and is going to be a success in tremendously increasing the diversion rate from landfills in Simcoe,” he added.

The London-based company, in operation since 1991, takes solid, non-hazardous waste — such as material from construction sites — and recycles them into saleable new products.

Try Recycling submitted an application for a certificate of approval from the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) in January 2011.

“It’s been a good open and transparent process,” Graham said.

In 2010, three Oro-Medonte residents made an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) expressing concerns about planned zoning amendments that would allow the facility to be built on a corner of the Oro Moraine.

Try Recycling will operate on a gravel pit located off Line 7 on the edge of the Oro moraine.

In March, the OMB concluded “this was a use that was permitted on the site and that the applicants against could voice a lot of their concerns through the certificate of approval process,” Graham said.

No specific environmental measures are required on the site. Testing to date, done by Golder Associates, has concluded what the company had believed all along, Graham said.

“For the types of materials we’re going to be diverting, we won’t have any negative impact on the environment on the water, or any other aspect,” he said. “That’s something we were very careful about in site selection before we even began.”

All the materials collected will be solid and non-hazardous.

“Residents looking a it from a technical point of view should be very satisfied that we’ve done our due diligence and proven out all our original assumptions,” Graham said.

Try Recycling is hoping to get its certificate of property use in the beginning of next year.

The certificate will manage all aspects of the operation, including air, noise, storm-water along with what type of materials can be taken in, the equipment used to process and more.

Once the certificate is obtained, Try Recycling will have to submit a site plan to Oro-Medonte.

“If they feel there are any mitigation features or landscaping that’s required over and above what we have submitted and been approved by the ministry, they can apply it at the site plan stage,” Graham said.

Oro-Medonte has approved environmental thing to ensure there will be no negative impact on the ground water.

“From what we’ve seen so far there are no red flags popping up, but keep in mind there is still testing to be completed,” Mayor Harry Hughes said. “They’re continuing to proceed on the basis that things are looking positive.”

Oro-Medonte must be satisfied by the Golder testing results — testing is still underway — to approve the operation.

“We need the assurance there won’t be a negative impact on the ground water,” Hughes said.

The site will house a scale house and office, tipping areas throughout site, processing areas, final process areas and residential and commercial drop off areas.

It will take about 60 days to construct the entire site, Graham said.

Initially, the company is expecting to hire 15 people.

“Our current facilities in London have 50 people employed and we would like to see it ramp up to that in three to five years,” Graham said.

They will be hiring heavy equipment operators, site managers and general labourers.

“We’re looking at this to be a long-term investment that’s going to provide significant environmental jobs,” Graham said.

In the first year, Try Recycling is expecting to divert at least 50,000 tonnes of materials from local landfills.

“We’ve requested we have the flexibility to receive materials and send materials out to all of Ontario, like we do with all of our sites, but 95% of the material that comes in is coming within an hours drive,” Graham said.