At their July 15 meeting, District Councillors were informed that the municipality is officially launching the creation of its Solid Waste Master Plan, which will guide how Muskoka manages its solid waste over the next 30 years.
Dillon Consulting Limited has been awarded the contract. The consultant will work with District staff and other stakeholders and gather community input to develop a fully costed plan that, if approved by the council, will guide decision-making when it comes to Muskoka’s waste processing and disposal.
Rosewarne in Bracebridge is Muskoka’s only landfill. In 2021, it was estimated that unless some serious waste diversion occurs (e.g., recycling and disposal of organics through the green bin service), Muskoka could run out of landfill space by 2036.
“We will look at all the disposal options. You might have seen recently that the County of Simcoe is sending material to Brampton for incineration and creating energy from waste,” noted James Steele, District Commissioner of Engineering and Public Works, in late June during a tour of the Mountview Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Steele said limited landfill space is not just a problem facing Muskoka but the entire province. Ontario only has about 10 years of capacity left. “So I think we as a province need to really look at how do we best manage waste.” Steele questioned whether placing solid waste in landfills is really the best way forward. He said the creation of the District Solid Waste Master Plan will look at various options. “We’ll look at, you know, what are the scenarios, what type of disposal are we interested in because, certainly, the community also has to be supportive.”
If incineration were to be contemplated, Muskoka would likely have to partner with adjoining area municipalities because the creation of such a facility here would be small by industry standards and financially prohibitive.
All options available to Muskoka will be explored as part of the process, said Steele.
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Norm Raynor says
I find it surprising that the district doesn’t already have a master plan. Also how much is the consultant costing? Rosewarne being the only landfill site in Muskoka is sad. If there is a leak in the containment at this site we have a big leak. If we had several sites like we used to have, a spill would be be much less of an issue. Several smaller sites would mean less trucking, which would mean less exhaust pollution. Product packaging is a large issue that creates a lot of garbage which is an issue that needs to be dealt with at the provincial and federal level.