KHR continues to examine waste management options
News
Posted By Ryan Paulsen - Staff Reporter
Posted 1 month ago
At a press conference held at the Killaloe-Hagarty-Richards council chamber, Greenview Environmental Management president Tyler Peters outlined some of the options currently under review by the township to deal with solid waste management in the face of "dwindling waste disposal capacity in Ontario."
The long-term waste management strategic plan was initiated in 2009, "with the objective of determining the best solution for the township to manage municipal solid waste generated in the municipality over a 20-year planning horizon."
The overarching concerns guiding the plan are the need to arrive at solution(s) that are both financially feasible and environmentally responsible.
In both August and October of 2009, the township held public consultations to hear from local residents their thoughts on various options and potential solutions, and sent questionnaires in the mail to everyone in the township, to which they received over 400 responses.
Taking those into consideration, the plan currently is examining the viability of four main options: diversion, landfill, incineration and export.
Diversion, "the primary effort," according to Peters, involves removing as much waste as possible through reuse, reduction and recycling, so that the amount of garbage actually requiring attention is as little as possible.
Currently, the township has an impressive record of diverting over 40 per cent of its waste through recycling, and the possibility of an expanded bluebox or green big (organics) program could bring that number even higher.
In this venture, the township has received funding from Waste Diversion Ontario's Continuous Improvement Fund to further improve their diversionary tactics.
Once they have diverted as much waste as possible, the rest of the options come to the forefront.
Landfill, still the cheapest and easiest option from a financial and logistical standpoint, has several sub-options, which include the potential expansion of the Killaloe landfill site on Mask Road, which is currently the only one of three landfill sites in operation in the township and which has approximately three years of capacity remaining.
Another leading option the township's plan is examining is the conversion of the Round Lake transfer station into an operational landfill site.
If that option was pursued, the Round Lake site, which has an estimated remaining capacity of 80,000 cubic metres would be able to accept waste for as many as 15 years without needed any expansion whatsoever.
Before either of these utilization/expansion options come into play, extensive hydrogeological, cultural and natural heritage studies would have to be conducted to ensure that they were safe and viable options.
The incineration option is one that is currently being explored more fully in larger municipalities and may not be financially viable for KHR due to its massive upfront investment requirement (generally between $75-100 million) and the very high intake requirements (dozens, and even up to a hundred tonnes of waste per day) that come along with such a facility.
Basically, incineration involves treated the solid waste at a very high temperature, turning it almost entirely from solid matter into gas, which is then used (in at least one specific case) to power turbines which generate electricity.
The final option is to export waste to other existing waste management facility, particularly in this case either the Ottawa Valley Waste Recovery Centre in Laurentian Valley township near Pembroke or the Lafleche Environmental Facility at Moose Creek.
Both of these options come with pros and cons. For the OVWRC, acceptance of waste is based on the township becoming a partner with the other five townships that currently co-own the facility. The fee for KHR to join the party would ring in at almost $1 million ($995,000 to be exact). On top of that, the municipality would also be responsible for a partnership tipping fee of $75/tonne, and royalty fees and hosting fees paid to Laurentian Valley as host municipality.
For Lafleche, the main obstacle would be transport, since the round-trip from KHR to the site north of Cornwall would be roughly 550 kilometres, compared to the 125-kilometre round trip to and from OVWRC. The benefit for the Lafleche option is that the only fee involved on their end would be a $75/tonne tipping fee.
These options, and potentially others, will be discussed at the upcoming public consultation meeting, which will be held on Saturday morning, August 14 at 9 a.m. at the Killaloe Lions Hall, 18 Lake Street, Killaloe. Ratepayers of Killaloe-Hagarty-Richards township are encouraged to attend to voice their opinion, ask their questions, and get updates on the future of waste management in their township.
