This week, I threw out less than a half of a shopping bag of garbage, along with what seemed like a tonne of dirty kitty litter.
I have two (relatively fat) cats. And I know there are thousands cats and dogs in Barrie. I also know that dog owners aren’t picking up their dog dirt and flushing it down the toilet; I see evidence of it on the sidewalks and on front yards as the snow melts. I can only imagine the state of some back yards – and come spring clean up, their garbage will be weighed down with a winter’s waste.
So I am keeping a keen eye on Simcoe County’s organics processing facility (OPF) debate. Nearby, the new facility could provide part of the answer for extending the life of Barrie’s Sandy Hollow landfill site.
A preferred site has just been selected and and the county’s project is already encountering significant resistance.
Springwater Township politicians are rousing not just nearby neighbours, but the people who opposed Site 41 years ago. Site 41 was a proposed landfill site located in Tiny Township. After many years, and millions of dollars spent on planning and studies, the County of Simcoe bowed to public pressure and nixed the landfill plan.
It’s really unfair to bring those protesters into today’s debate about a new organics processing facility.
The OPF emerged from the county’s waste management plan – a response to the public’s desire to boost environmental stewardship in the wake of Site 41. After public consultation and consensus, Simcoe County approved a process for the development of the OPF – and now the proposed host municipality is attempting to derail it. There’s a whiff of NIMBY.
The old adage – you can choose to be part of the solution or part of the problem – rings true here.
Concerned residents can – and should – share their opinions as discussions begin about the technology and the product that will ultimately emerge from the plant that will turn your table scraps, tea bags and coffee grounds into a marketable fertilizer.
Barrie residents should be paying attention, too. This could be part of our solution to keep the Sandy Hollow landfill site open longer. Perhaps one day, the only garbage I’ll have is that fraction of a shopping bag that weighs mere ounces, garbage that consists of some plastic wrap and soiled meat tray liners.
