BARRIE - This story has been updated from a previous version.
Learning from the lessons of the Site 41 controversy, Barrie is doing its homework on a new trash system.
At a public meeting May 4, residents heard the system is part of a bigger waste management strategy to plan for the future and were asked for their input.
The Sandy Hollow Landfill on Ferndale Drive North has an estimated 13 years left in its lifespan.
“That site was never engineered with a lined site or leachate collection,” said Pam Russell, a consultant with Golder Associates firm.
In 2007, the city completed a $47-million remediation program to try and free up some room, and install a leachat collection system.
“There’s always a lot of opposition to landfill sites but at the end of the day, we will be making waste in the foreseeable future, and it’s something the city has to take care of.”
And that’s why the planning has to start now.
In North Simcoe, residents battled with the County of Simcoe over creating a new landfill on Site 41 near Elmvale. Even after gaining provincial approval, the power of the people won out and construction on the proposed site was ended in 2010.
Russell said the city’s study looks at recycling and composting programs. The good news is residents aren’t producing as much waste overall as they were a few years ago, she said. And waste diversion is also increasing.
“Part of this is we want to hear from residents if there are barriers to using their green bins or blue boxes,” she said.
The city already has a partial user-pay system, and Russell said they are looking for comments on how to divert more waste from the landfill. Creating financial incentives for participation was one idea.
“We recently had a meeting with stakeholders and one person said they could manage to put out only one bag of garbage every month. Another person had a baby with diapers, so that idea wouldn’t work for them.”
Russell said last week’s meeting was aimed at asking the public what currently works with garbage collection.
“We will also consult with our neighbouring municipalities. When we have alternatives available, we’ll have more workshops,” she said.
Sandy Agnew, a member of Zero Waste Simcoe, was one of the few who went to the open house meeting. He hopes Barrie works with its neighbours on the problem. “We need to look at a big picture, rather than individual components,” he said.
“Our waste strategy needs to be part of a larger, sustainable plan that works in concert with the county and Orillia.”
He said Barrie uses its diversion figures as a measure of success in its waste program. “But it’s difficult to judge. It’s only looking at the volume of material going to landfill, but there are so many places that divert it all,” he said.
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