Dump sites should be buried

Letter Barrie Examiner July 30 2010
(Re: ‘Recycling battle will create another Site 41’ in the July 23 edition of the Examiner)
I read Len Leach’s letter with great interest. Mr Leach, I really appreciate your informing us that there is unfortunately already a dump site on the Oro Moraine.
I am sure that you would agree that the Official Plan would never have approved this.
The plan recognizes the Oro Moraine as a special place. Maybe you can explain why this particular place should be chosen for processing the results of wrecking old buildings (construction materials).
I can’t imagine that the leachate from this sort of material is clean enough to go into our drinking water. Why add another threat to our water supply?
As you know the struggle against a dump Site 41 has raised our level of awareness around the importance of our drinking water. Steve Ogden has given a great deal of his time and energy to inform us that our valuable water would be threatened by a new dump on Site 41.
In fact, there are a number of dump sites around Simcoe County that are already poisoning our water. This is not a local issue. It concerns the water supply for everyone who lives in Simcoe County.
It has taken local government a long time to realize that the public no longer wants to risk damage to their water supply. This has led to considerable unnecessary expense of taxpayers’ money.
I am sure that you would agree that now that we know about this, we expect our governments to take steps to protect our water as soon as possible. This means that they are going to have to find new ways of dealing with waste disposal.
It seems a little unfair to hold Mr. Ogden responsible if Simcoe County decides to dump more garbage in the Oro Moraine — since it is now aware of the deep concern we feel for the safety of our water supply. I feel that we owe Ogden a debt of gratitude for his many years of unpaid labour.
At the moment recycling will only deal with a part of the problem. The County of Simcoe waste management steering committee, with the consultant Stantec, came up with a strategy for dealing with waste during the next 20 years.
They concluded that even with the most effective recycling, there would be a substantial residue of waste which would have to go in to landfill sites. They proposed that a new facility be built before the dump sites were exhausted.
In my opinion, dump sites are Stone Age technology.
According to my research new facilities could be built within two years.
These would take all our surplus garbage, convert it into green energy, and enable us to close our dump sites. We could then clean them out and preserve our water.
One of these facilities has already been tested successfully in Sault Ste. Marie. This is made-in- Canada technology.
I hope that our local governments feel as concerned for our water supply as do the rest of us. Consequently, they will take action as soon as possible to take care of this vital resource.
Nickolas Rowe Moonstone
Recent member of the Simcoe County waste management steering committee