Organic waste plant coming to county

By ROBIN MACLENNAN, Special to The Packet & Times June 27, 2012

An organic waste processing plant will be built somewhere in Simcoe County and could be operating within five years, council decided Tuesday.

The 35-million project will accept up to 30,000 tonnes of green bin waste each year, enough capacity for all of Simcoe County and beyond. Also, when the new facility opens, the range of materials accepted in the county green bin program will grow to include pet waste, diapers and women’s sanitary products, a staff report detailed to council.

“(Orillia and Barrie) are very interested in looking at it. Not as partners, but they are interested in being customers,” Rob McCullough, manager of solid waste at the county told council on Tuesday.

At this time, no outside municipality has committed to using the new county plant.

With council’s approval, staff can now hire a technician to oversee the project and begin the process of developing a Request for Proposal (RFP). They can also begin site selection.

McCullough said the plant opening is “at least five years away,” and he expects Simcoe County residents will be leaving about 20,000 of organics at the curb by that time, including the newly added items. He suggested that expanding green bin collection would allow council to reconsider a limit on garbage collection.

Residents are currently limited to one bag of trash per week. At $3, tags can purchased for additional collection.

While a new community education campaign coming later this summer or early fall might reduce the amount of garbage going to landfill, McCullough said local processing will “do little” to address the issue of disposal capacity in the county.

By current estimates, the county’s landfill has a lifespan of approximately six more years.

When landfill capacity is reached, McCullough reminded council, “We will be in an export only situation after that six years.”

Previously, council had adopted a philosophy that garbage generated in Simcoe County should be handled within the county.

Export options will be presented to county council this fall.

Waste audits have shown that county residents are putting 80% of acceptable material in blue boxes, but only 50% of household organics are finding their way into green bins. The rest being put in the trash.

“If we did a much better job, we would come very close to the 30,000 tonne capacity,” McCullough said, adding that garbage tags encourage residents to sort waste into appropriate containers and reduce impact on landfill sites.

 

By Richard Blanchard Innisfil Scope June 27 2012

Simcoe County took the first step towards building its own composting facility earlier this month.

County council approved a recommendation from the Corporate Services committee, which paves the way for an investigation into the feasibility of the project. After listening to a report from Genivar Consulting on the composting options open to the county, the committee chose to recommend the project move into the planning stages as quickly as possible. A full-time person would be required to manage the selection of the site and procurement and eventual development of the property.

The process to construct the facility is expected to take five years.

Brian Oke, of Genivar, said that the five years was probably the minimum length of time to bring the facility to fruition. Once complete, it would compost 30,000 tons of material per year. A plant of this size would cost about $35 million to build, in addition to the cost of the land and site development expenses.

Currently, it costs about $135 per ton for compost transporting and processing at a Hamilton area facility.

County solid waste management director Rob McCullough said it would cost around $160 per ton to transport and process material at the new facility. But it would be able to process animal waste and diapers, and permanently guarantees a place for the area’s waste.

“It would end up costing about $2.40 extra per resident for composting each year,” he said.

Adjala-Tosorontio mayor Tom Walsh said that he wanted the county to select a ‘proven’ operating process.

“I’ve seen a lot of facilities over the years, which have been working, and then have closed down,” he said. “The simpler the operation, the better, in my experience.”

County councillors were told not to expect much revenue from the sale of compost from the plant.

“It’s minimal,” said Oke. “In lots of the facilities, the compost is given away.”