NEWS ARCHIVES

April 16, 2010

Waste Management Carp Landfill proposed expansion

Waste Management Inc. (WM) is seeking approval to expand the Carp Road Landfill, which provides services to the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (IC&I) and outlying municipalities’ residential sectors.

The preliminary details of WM 's proposal includes the new West Carleton Environmental Centre (WCEC). The WCEC proposal includes a variety of waste technologies and services, including a request for a new landfill cell that will accept up to 400,000 tonnes of waste per year for 10 years. The current landfill cell is scheduled to close by September 2011 and is to be capped with a permanent cover and then grass. This cell closure is not dependant on the WCEC proposal.

The environmental approval process for a private landfill expansion is controlled by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE). The City's Environmental Services staff and City Council with the benefit of public consultation will closely examine WM 's Terms of Reference (ToR) when they are submitted to ensure the community's comments are heard and that any expansion if approved environmentally sound.

The City is responsible for the City's residential waste and does not require the Carp Road Landfill to expand to manage residential waste. With the City's current programs and services, including the new Green Bin program, the City has the landfill capacity to mange all residential waste within the current facilities for the foreseeable future. The City has a letter of intent with Plasco Energy Group to build a 400 ton per day facility for residential waste once the testing and MOE approvals for the process at the demonstration plant is completed.

There is a restricted ability for the City to influence where private companies direct their waste as this is controlled by the provincial government and subject to agreements between private companies.

At this time there is no legal requirement for the City to support the proposed expansion. The company will be obligated to follow the normal environmental and planning approval process.

The next step in the process is for WM to develop a ToR which provides a framework for the proposed WCEC. Public consultation will be undertaken during this process.

While I commend WM for the new forward thinking technologies they are proposing, I will not support a new proposed landfill and I am confident that once again the residents of Stittsville and the surrounding areas will come together to oppose the landfill expansion.

I will continue to work with you to stop the expansion of the landfill. We as a community must band together as we have in the past to ensure that the proposals for waste handling in our City are brought into the 21st century. The City's new Green Bin Program combined with Plasco Technology's plasmafication system provides better and more effective waste disposal for the citizens of Ottawa than the archaic process of burying waste. These new technologies and diversion strategies that are currently available mean that no new expansions of landfill are needed in Ottawa.

For more information including the contact details for your MPP Norm Sterling and MOE Minster John Gerretsen please visit by website www.shadqadri.com. You may also wish to review information provided by WM (http://wcec.wm.com), the Carp Landfill Community Liaison Committee (www.clclc.ca), No Dump (www.nodump.ca) and subscribe to the Moving Mountains emails (moving.mountains@yahoo.ca).

I will continue to update the community as more information becomes available. If you are not part of my electronic outreach list and would like to be added to receive more information and this and other matters, please contact my office.

Open Houses on Waste Management’s proposal

Waste Management (WM) announced they would be holding 5 open houses from April 19 to 22 as part of the Environmental Assessment Act process for the expansion of the Carp Landfill site.

I was extremely disappointed to see that initially once again WM had chosen to ignore the community that is most affected by this proposal and not hold any of these open houses in our Community of Stittsville.

Upon my request, WM has agreed to hold an open house in Stittsville on Thursday, April 29 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. in the gym of St. Stephen Catholic School located at 1145 Stittsville Main Street. This open house will provide an informal general overview of the information that WM has released on their proposal.

When the Terms of Reference (ToR) are submitted for the proposal an additional meeting will be held in Stittsville including a formal presentation and question session. I will be asking representatives from the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and WM attend this meeting.

I strongly encourage you to attend as many of these meetings as possible and to voice your opinion on the project. I am also asking that you contact your friends and neighbours to inform them about these meetings and to encourage them to participate.

I welcome your comments and suggestions about this expansion and I hope that you remain engaged in the process.

Always listening and acting on your concerns

As your Councillor, I always welcome your keen input and ideas on how we can sustain and improve Stittsville.

Please contact our office anytime by phone at 613-580-2476 or by e-mail at Shad.Qadri@ottawa.ca.

My ward office is located in the Goulbourn Recreation Complex, located at 1500 Shea Road. The hours of operation are Mondays 9-2pm, Wednesdays 3-8pm, Fridays 9-5pm, and Saturday 9-1pm. Please do not hesitate to pay us a visit. I welcome your call or e-mail to arrange an appointment.

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