Like others in Wellington County, Puslinch councillors are concerned about Mississauga street sweepings being shipped off to other municipalities.
On May 17, Puslinch council review correspondence to Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott from Tina Dufresne, central region director at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
Arnott had written to environment minister Glen Murray, expressing concern about the deposit of City of Mississauga street sweepings at various sites within the Wellington-Halton Hills area.
As an update, Dufresne wrote that on Nov. 30, 2016, the ministry issued an order that requires the city to hire a third party auditor to identify all other sites that received the city’s street sweepings, submit a plan to test the street sweepings at the receiving sites, and provide property owners with information on the street sweepings, along with other requirements.
The city appealed the ministry’s order to the Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) and requested that the ERT permit a stay of the work ordered pending the outcome of the appeal hearing.
The sites identified as having received the city’s street sweepings are private property, except for a road allowance project in Mississauga.
Councillor Ken Roth commented, “I never knew they did this. I can’t believe they’d dump street sweepings in someone else’s municipality.”
Mayor Dennis Lever stated that Puslinch “is one of the minor players in this.”
Councillor Matthew Bulmer stated he was concerned since he first read about the issue in the Wellington Advertiser.
“It was surprising to see,” he said adding there are some types of material captured through the township fill bylaw, while other materials are not. “I am glad this is being looked at.”
Councillor Susan Fielding was also pleased to see the matter is being looked at.
At the same time, she felt this will be an ongoing issue as a result of urban intensification in GTA communities.
“It is unfortunate some of it ends up here, but I think we are going to have to wait for some provincial action,” Fielding said.
Councillor John Sepulis wanted to ensure that only certain materials would be acceptable and that the township’s fill bylaw encompasses the checks and balances to make that happen.
“We need enough teeth in our bylaw to ensure we don’t get any of this waste from other municipalities,” said Sepulis.
Lever said he was hoping to ask the county to generate a report that would be shared with Puslinch councillors.
