Why landfill site 41 is required

Pressure on existing County landfills would be relieved significantly by the opening of County Landfill Site 41. Communities in Simcoe County that have been accepting residential waste from the north Simcoe area have had their own facilities impacted because there has not been a local waste disposal solution in the north Simcoe area.

Approximately 15,000 tonnes of residential waste requiring disposal is produced annually by Tiny, Tay, Midland and Penetanguishene. Tonnage statistics for 1995 to present indicate how much waste has been transported to other Simcoe County communities:

Community landfill site tonnage from North Simcoe;

Wasaga Beach Site #15 124,000 tonnes

Nottawasaga (in Clearview) Site #10 23,800 tonnes

Elmvale (in Springwater) Site #5 12,000 tonnes

Oro-Medonte Site #11 7,800 tonnes

Matchedash (in Severn) Site #8 1,500 tonnes

Medonte (in Severn) Site #9,600 tonnes

Collingwood Site #2,400 tonnes

Vespra (in Springwater) Site #14,100 tonnes

Total 170,200 tonnes

"I think it demonstrates the point well to note that had the Wasaga Beach landfill not received north Simcoe waste, the Wasaga Beach landfill could have had an additional 35 years of disposal capacity based on current town volumes," stated Warden Terry Geddes. "In 2005, Wasaga Beach produced only 3,500 tonnes of residential waste. From 1995 to 2003, the Wasaga Beach landfill accepted 124,000 tonnes of waste from Tiny, Tay, Midland and Penetanguishene which resulted in the premature closing of this site.

"Of course none of that disposal volume would have been available at all, if the County had not been so successful in its landfill site remediation efforts since assuming responsibilities for waste management."

Because this waste has been transported to out-ofarea waste facilities, additional transportation and handling costs exceeding $5 million in the last 10 years were incurred by the taxpayers of north Simcoe.

The final approval from the Ministry of Environment is further evidence that Site 41 is not a technical debate. EA and EPA approvals were granted in 1995. The County's designs for Site 41 have been scrutinized by the Ministry of Environment and several independent engineers.

All professional studies and reviews conclude that Site 41 can be developed to be protective of the environment including water resources.