The District of Muskoka continues work on its Solid Waste Master Plan, a strategic guide for how Muskoka can achieve its waste management goals over the next 30 years.
The plan is critical because as Muskoka’s population grows, its landfill space is decreasing.
At their August 21, 2025, meeting, District councillors were told that half of the plan has been completed by District staff and consultants. The final plan, following more consultation, is expected to be presented to the District Engineering and Public Works Committee in mid-2026.
While the key priority is to prolong the life of the Rosewarne Landfill through diversion, the plan will explore options for waste disposal once space at the landfill has been exhausted. The community and councillors will also be presented with the options and costs incineration, burying, or transporting the waste elsewhere.
Another aspect of the plan is expected to address greenhouse gas Emissions. Councillors were told that both closed and open landfills generate huge amounts of emissions, and to mitigate climate change, in anticipation of Federal regulation, those emissions need to be addressed.
Other aspects expected to be explored include whether any services should be extended to the institutional, commercial, or industrial sector, as well as the associated costs.
The plan is also expected to explore funding models for service and infrastructure related to waste processing and disposal.
Councillors were told that, based on the metrics associated with the drafting of the plan, in 2024, Muskoka residents generated 275 kilograms per person per year. Councillors were given an exercise and were asked to indicate how aggressively they want to get to a zero-waste, waste management system over the next 30 years.
The options were Conservative, Moderate, or Aggressive. For example, under the Conservative option, the goal would be to reduce the per-resident waste output to 125 kilograms per year in the next 30 years.
The majority of councillors chose the Moderate approach. Defined by the report compiled by staff as “Take a progressive path, adopting best practices to address the District’s needs and challenges and achieve meaningful improvements, deferring cost increases associated with alternative disposal options.”
Public engagement sessions will begin in mid-September, and the council will be presented with further details related to the Moderate option as well as cost.
Councillors were told that based on 2024 diversion rates, the lifespan of the existing landfill is about 16 years.
Want to know more? You can find staff’s report HERE (pdf) and the presentation to council, HERE (also pdf).
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What a surprise!!! Muskoka running out of landfill space!!! Yet our politicians and public officials approve new developments as though there is a wager going on to fill up existing space as fast as possible. Existing sewage facilities need hundreds of millions of dollars of your taxpayer money to service already approved developments? All for special interests who want to eliminate development charges.
Bracebridge has just approved their draft Official Plan (in a rush as the only official meeting was during the ice storm emergency and they refused to hold another one) that will see triplexes allowed on every lot, a house behind a house allowed on every lot, rooming houses in every house and 10 story buildings. It’s now before District Council for approval. Tell your elected officials to send it back to Bracebridge for rework. Because you and the rest of Muskoka are going to pay most of the costs for the infrastructure required for this mega rezoning and environmentally destructive plan.
The solution is a freeze on these new developments which are turning Muskoka into a mirror image of Brampton or Mississauga. We can stand up and tell our local and Provincial and federal officials that we want a Muskoka that future generations can look back at past generations and thank them for preserving the Muskoka we know and love.