Greater Sudbury looking for new solid waste strategy
Greater Sudbury is updating its solid waste management master plan and is looking to get public input.
"It's going to be a document that will guide future decision-making and our future waste programs and policies over the next 10 years,” said Renee Brownlee, director of environmental services.
“Basically it's going to aim to divert and reduce waste and optimize landfill space as well as help us achieve our climate change goals."
The current plan expired in 2020. The city plans on seeking input as it looks to understand priorities and perspectives on the current and future states of the city's' waste management system.
"We all produce garbage and these are services that are provided to our community that everybody uses, whether you're a resident receiving curbside collection or you’re a business using the landfill site and we want to gain your perspectives and visions for the programming in the future," Brownlee said.
The city's current three landfills -- one in the former City of Sudbury, one in Hanmer and the other in Azilda -- combined have an average lifespan of 25 years and replacing them is not as simple as one might think, she said.
"Landfill space in Ontario is dwindling,” Brownlee said.
“We're lucky here in Greater Sudbury to have three landfill sites and we need to treat that space as a valuable asset.”
Opening a new landfill is a years-long process that could cost more than $200 million, she said. The ultimate goal is to keep all three sites going.
Danny Whalen is the president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) and a councillor in Temiskaming Shores.
Whalen said the issue of landfill space and waste reduction is not solely a Sudbury issue. They've been working on replacing the one in Temiskaming Shores for several years.
It’s going to cost his city of 10,000 people $2 million.
"This undertaking is massive,” he said.
“It's a huge workload for staff, it's very expensive, it's very time-consuming and yet it's a very slow process so there's very little to report and can lead to a disconnect with what's going on and what the public knows is going on.”
Re-Think Green's David St. Georges said he is hopeful the city's input session will take several things into account as it looks to shape the next 10 years.
"We know people are going to want more garbage pickup, but I think another thing we're going to see that will really have impact is more options for us to dispose of our goods downtown and other places,” St. Georges said.
“Maybe centralized pickup locations."
He said having more locations for pickup can only help the city achieve its waste diversion goals, by giving people more options to throw away what they need to and to recycle.
The city is asking people to complete a survey on existing waste management programs and services by completing a survey by the end of day Feb. 24.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.