halton landfill – Mike Cluett

I can say with some certainty that one of the most received complaints/requests over my time as both local and regional councillor for Milton has been about blue box waste.

Most recently Halton Region has introduced the 22L larger sized blue box containers for residents to be able to hold more recycled material that’s collected on a weekly basis.

This, along with other waste management diversion programs, has helped Halton Region be a provincial leader in waste diversion from the landfill at over 64%. Its an incredible accomplishment that we all should be very proud of. In turn these programs have extended the life of the landfill from what was originally projected to be 2012 – now projected to be 2042 and beyond. This has saved Halton taxpayers roughly $15 million in potential costs of a new landfill site, countless studies and possible property acquisitions.

Sadly there are windy days and things don’t always go as planned. Blue boxes can tip over in the wind and an unintended result will be blue box waste blowing around.

Recently Halton Region has been reviewing a number of their policies and procedures to come up with more solutions for Milton and Halton residents.

Just this past meeting of Halton Region council, we approved some of these changes – with more to come – including the use of recycling bags. A number of options were looked at including bins with lids that some other regions used and while there was a decrease in some blue box waste, other issues had arose such as non recycling material being collected in those bins, and on extremely windy days these taller bins with lids can also tip over.

We’ve worked out a solution that starting in April of 2018 – more details to come – Halton residents will now be able to use recycling bags to collect and store their recycling materials for collection. This we feel will cut down on blue box waste, especially on windy days going forward.

There will be more details to come as we get closer to the date, so stay tuned to this website and www.halton.ca for more details.

The Region of Halton recently announced that it was going forward with a Green Cart Program to help reduce the amount of waste that heads to our landfill site. In case people are unaware of where that landfill site is, take a trip down 25 (Bronte Road) south of Derry and you will soon see it.

There was quite the discussion during the last municipal election on what should be done with the landfill, which is quickly approaching capacity. With the hundreds and hundreds of new homes being built in the area there will be a further demand on that landfill and its up to us as residents to do our part.

The Region of Halton currently has the Blue Box program in place. You are to put glass, plastics etc in one box and in the other we place the acceptable paper products, boxes, etc. As of April 2008 it was announced that residents will be able to put all products into one box instead of separating it, given the improvement in the separation technology available.

During that campaign a debate raged on about the EFW (Energy From Waste) proposal that was put before Regional Council and the pros and cons involved. In essence, an incinerator would be built at the landfill and the waste would then be burned using clean technology to produce energy that would be used in the region of Halton and beyond. Coupled with this proposal there was the much maligned Pristine Power Plant issue that seemed to dominate the last half of the campaign.

Recently Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr along with council announced that it was putting the EFW option aside permanently and focusing only on the existing programs and the Green Cart.

Does it go far enough?

With our landfill approaching capacity quickly (some analysts have said that within 25 years Halton will be required to have another landfill or another option in place for our garbage) will simply placing household food scraps and other materials in our Green Box do the job? With the landfill approaching capacity by 2023 according to Halton Region analysis, we need to take sufficient action now. The addition of the Green Cart program will add 7 years to the life of the landfill where the EFW facility would solve our problems for close to 50 years from now.

The EFW program, according to the proposal and the experts would have added at least another 100 years to the life of the Halton landfill. Does the Green Cart program go far enough?

At first glance it would seem that unless I’m mistaken and someone can hopefully provide me with more information, that it would have little affect on the amount of garbage at the landfill. The Region of Halton, and residents in general, need to come up with a longer range plan to solve the landfill issue.

Of course costs will be a major factor in making this decision. Who pays for it, how will we pay for it, etc. But the main question remains, what will it cost if nothing gets done? What if we wait until the landfill is near capacity and decisions have to be made then? The cost to taxpayers will pale in comparison and who knows the effect on our environment.

The amount of available land is decreasing with every new resident that we welcome to the area. What other options are there available to increase the life of our landfill?

It seems that the easier political issue would be to scrap the EFW and go with the easier to sell Green Cart Program. Tough decision are going to have to be made NOW and not 25 years from now when our landfill is overflowing and the residents will be screaming for answers.

Lets look at all the options … now, before its too late. Food scraps and other items just wont cut it.