Headlines have been blaring from cities across Ontario about the problems of running organic waste collection and creating compost from it.
There have been requests and enquiries from at least one municipality in Wellington County to have organics collected, but even without problems seen in big cities, solid waste services committee chairman Bob Wilson wants nothing to do with it.
“They’ve been after us,” Wilson said in an interview on the weekend. “Minto started it.”
But Wilson, who was involved in the landfill site selection wars of the 1980s and 1990s wants nothing to do with organics collection or composting – other than people doing it on their own in their own back yards.
“It’s almost like opening a landfill site,” he said of the difficulties the county would enquire. After nearly 12 years of searching Wellington County never did find a dump site, even though it spent millions looking for one.
Wilson cited government regulations as one reason finding such a site is difficult. He understands some people in Minto miss their old compost site, which was closed when the county took over all garbage-related work from the lower tier municipalities.
But, he noted, “People used to have that illicit site behind the mill in Palmerston. The county has to think in a different way. There’s a good deal of government regulation involved.”
There are also major headaches, too. Toronto, for example, was supposed to divert 70% of its waste into organics by next year, but studies of the current system have indicated there are major problems, and some of the compost produced will actually kill plants instead of enhance their growth.
Some have called it a disaster, the city has yet to provide any answers to its critics and Mayor David Miller has refused to even comment on revelations of dirty diapers and plastics that were supposed to be diverted from the waste stream being burned instead.
In Ottawa, a pilot program has recently started and it is being tracked by the local Newspapers. There are already warnings to watch out for flies that lay eggs on rotting meat.
In London, a company opened a composting facility three years ago, and since then neighbours have filed over 400 complaints over foul odours. Even the company has admitted there have been problems.
The reports also indicated that there are a few municipalities (Durham and Peel Regions) that operate sound organics and composting facilities.
One Toronto daily noted that Toronto is attempting to work with the same London company that is having so much difficulty there.
Wilson said of collecting organics, “There’s a lot of problems with it.”
He noted All Treat Farms, near Arthur, has had its problems, even after the company spent millions to reduce odours. Its owners and the company itself are currently facing two charges for odours.
Wilson said one reason city-run operations are running into problems is “They’re not careful about what they put into it.” He noted that in Guelph, which has a relatively small operation, it takes lower amounts of contaminants to cause problems.
“That toxic stuff is a higher percentage of it,” he said, adding, “It’s like computers. Crap in; crap out.”
Wilson said he would be unwilling to become involved with composting except under one circumstance: if the province decides to force the county through legislation. He said that hands-off approach and having people handle their own compost makes senses “especially in a rural area where there’s lots of room for it. It’s not rocket science. You mix some dirt in with it.”
He said of small, backyard composters, “Use a little common sense with them, and they work.”
He added that in Wellington County the only problem for people handling their own organics comes from those who live in apartments, and he said the county is attempting to reach some type of agreement with landlords and All Treat to take that material.
“That’s the angle we’ve taken all along,” Wilson said.
He said if people wanted to have county-wide collection of organics, “You do that and it’s a little like taking something away from the people and adding it to the tax bill. I think the tax bill’s high enough.”
