BY APRIL ANTONIAZZI
for northern life
Between 500 and 600 property owners will be affected by the closure of the Estaire Waste Disposal Site in a few months.
Close to 100 residents and cottage owners who have property in Burwash, Hendrie, Servos and Secord Townships were present at a public meeting Thursday April 20 to discuss options available to them now that the waste disposal site, run by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), will be closing.
There were seven options discussed at the meeting ranging from "do nothing" to enlarging the existing facility, which most in attendance agreed would prove to be far too costly. Other options like transporting garbage to a further site, are also not popular among residents.
The most popular option involved reclaiming the current site,
which would involve
digging up the landfill, removing recycled material and shredding
or compacting garbage currently there.
It was estimated at the meeting reclamation would give the waste disposal site another 13 years of life.
This option may also allow residents continued use during reclamation, but would be dependent on the contractor placed in charge.
Another popular option involved building a new waste disposal site altogether. Because provincial regulations, there wasn't a lot of information presented about a possible new site location, but there are possible areas within one to 20 kilometres away from the existing site.
Most in attendance were happy with the way the meeting went but some worry that it may not make a difference.
“I think (MNR) they’ll do what they want to do anyway,” said Denise Newton a resident affected by the closure.
Residents are frustrated there was not more warning and time to plan before the site has to close.
“They knew this problem would come one day and why all of a sudden wait till it’s a crisis issue before it’s dealt with,” said Len Gervais, chair of the Sudbury East Property Owners Association.
The need to close the waste disposal site is pressing because the site is currently over capacity, says the MNR.
Regulations stipulate a site its size can hold up to 40,000 cubic metres of waste, but when calculations were done, at the request of the Ministry of Environment, it was found there was 42,000 cubic metres of waste on-site.
One issue residents would like to be considered is long-term planning so they don’t find themselves in this same situation in another 10 or 20 years.
“They’re looking at an option rather than looking at several options to expand things out over several years and again it’s a very short term plan,” said John Scott, a who lives near the site.
The government and citizens need to be thinking long term, said Gervais.
“That’s the issue and that’s not just here, that’s province-wide, that’s worldwide, there’s no advance planning,” said Gervais.
Stephen Devos of the MNR noted there is a need to monitor the future site more closely so officials have a better idea of its lifespan.
“There needs to be planning that occurs earlier...that reflects technology options and legislation of the day,” said Devos.
Hopes are that a final option will be selected in early summer. Costs to residents will not be determined until then. Possibilities may include buying a card with a certain number of uses, or paying a tipping fee each time waste is dropped off. Currently residents are paying 75 cents per bag of waste.
The final date for comment on the project is May 15.
Questions and comments can be directed to Karen Mikoliew, Lands & Waters Technical Specialist, 3767 Highway 69 South, Ste. 5, Sudbury, Ont. P3G 1E7. Residents can phone 564-7856 for more information.
