Barrie Advance

The municipalities of York, Peel and Durham have also dealt with the smelly subject – each creating their own solution.
Here’s a rundown of how our neighbours deal with their garbage.

Peel Region
For more than 15 years, Peel Region has burned its trash at the Algonquin Power incinerator in Brampton. Not everything, however, gets disposed there. Approximately 174,000 tonnes of solid waste is fed into the Peel incinerator each year, with 147,000 tonnes from local residential waste comprised of the cities of Mississauga, Brampton and the Town of Caledon. The remainder comes from international airport waste and industrial, commercial and institutional (IC&I) waste.
“I wasn’t around in 1992 when it came on line, but from what I’ve heard, there wasn’t much controversy,” said Dave Gordon, manager of waste planning. “And there isn’t much now.”
The rest of the region’s waste – 140,000 tonnes – is shipped to a landfill site in Warwick, Ont. Peel does have recycling facilities in the municipality and wants to hit a 70-per-cent diversion rate from landfill by 2016. To try and reinforce this, Peel has no future plans to build more landfill sites, but council is considering its long-term waste solutions and that could mean an expansion to the incinerator.
Gordon said the facility produces nine megawatts of energy, and was once expanded so it now runs five lines.
One ongoing concern with the facility is the need to dispose of the ash left behind. Some of the bottom ash is sold to other landfill sites, which have to cover their garbage daily. The rest of the leftover material – either fly ash or boiler residue – is toxic and is sent to a hazardous landfill.
The cost of sending waste to the Algonquin Power plant is approximately $115 a tonne, versus shipping it to a landfill that costs $75 a tonne. “It is more expensive, but from a council perspective, we want to manage our waste within the region.”
The reason the plant is the only one in Ontario is because the province put a moratorium on building new incinerators after the Peel one was built. But the province has lifted the ban and is now looking at yet another incinerator – this one in Clarington.

Read more: http://www.barrieadvance.com/barrieadvance/article/143889