County’s waste targets touted

By RAYMOND BOWE Barrie Examiner June 23 2010 
Depending on what Simcoe County councillors want to spend, the amount of waste not going into area landfills could reach as high as 77%. The county now diverts 57% of all garbage from its landfills, which was among the highest in the province based on 2008 statistics.
“You really are the top performing municipality,” said Janine Ralph, director of environmental sciences and planning for Stantec Consulting, the company that was hired to investigate short-and long-term approaches to handling waste over the next two decades.
By comparison, the City of Barrie diverts about 49% of its waste from the Sandy Hollow landfill. The city’s goal is 60%.
Simcoe County hopes to achieve as close to zero waste as possible through various programs, such as recycling and organics.
A 71% diversion rate is “reasonable” by 2020, Ralph said.
“Quite frankly, it could happen sooner than that, depending on public participation,” she said.
The diversion rate would max out at 77% by 2030, but Ralph said that would be “pushing the envelope” based on full public participation.
Three active landfills have less than seven years’ capacity, and there is one small recycling facility, located in northern Simcoe County.
Most recyclables are processed outside the county, while organics are sent to Hamilton.
More recycling capacity could process up to 50,000 tonnes annually with more facilities, Ralph said. A decision on a new facility would be needed in the next two to three years, she added, noting the county would also have more control by managing its own facility, while also having potential business from Barrie and Orillia.
With the organics program, the county could add another 4% to the diversion percentage by adding more materials to its green-bin program. A new facility would also reduce haulage fees.
“Basically, the strategy recommends changes,” Ralph said.
A detailed 212-page draft report was presented to the Waste Management Strategy Steering Committee on Tuesday at the Simcoe County administration building.
The report outlined numerous options for the county to explore that could substantially help reduce the amount of garbage being buried in the ground.
Those options could include everything from building new facilities to handle recycling and organics, while also expanding landfills and developing new ones.
It now comes down to what councillors believe is a prudent approach.
Some of the problems identified by Stantec included a lack of long-term capacity for recyclables and organics, and lack of long-term disposal capacity.
Stantec examined not only the status quo, but also six scenarios based on a combination of options, from a user-pay system to energy-from-waste facilities to long-term export.
“There are different costs associated with all of these options,” she said, adding each is also contingent on landfill capacity.
In 2009, Simcoe County handled about 115,000 tonnes of garbage. About 90% of that came from county residents and the remaining 12,000 tonnes came from industrial, commercial and institutional sources.
Based on residential growth projections and without any changes to waste management, the county could be handling more than 180,000 tonnes of garbage annually by 2030.
The impetus for the Stantec investigation came out of the lengthy debate surrounding controversial landfill Site 41, which was eventually abandoned last summer following public outcry over potential groundwater contamination.
However, by mothballing Site 41, four municipalities in northern Simcoe County — Midland and Penetanguishene, Tay and Tiny townships — are still operating without their own landfill.
Site 41 had been in the development stages for about 30 years. Initial construction had started in the property north of Elmvale before it was shut down.
There are also 28 inactive landfills in the county.