Township a dumping grund?

Letter to Orillia Packet and Times December 7, 2012 

Re: West Oro residents fear water contamination, Page A1, Dec. 4

 In the article concerning the TRY Recycling proposal for the used gravel pit on the Old Barrie Road and the 7th Line of Oro-Medonte, a significant point was missing. 

TRY Recycling admitted that about 15% of demolition material it will receive on the site cannot be recycled. TRY estimated this to be about 62,000 tonnes per year. It also admitted that one of the reasons it likes this site is that it is close to the county landfill on the Old Barrie Road, where it is anticipated the non-recycled material will end up. 

This landfill has an admitted life expectancy of about six years as things stand now. Obviously, the lifecycle of the dump will now be greatly reduced if TRY receives permission from the Ministry of the Environment to proceed, and the Township of Oro-Medonte does not pull out of this project of which it is a partner. To make this site profitable, TRY will receive demolition material from all over Ontario and not just Simcoe County. Since when is the Township of Oro-Medonte to be the dumping ground for parts of Ontario other than this county?

Mark Scharf

West Oro Ratepayers Association member