Blog by Gerard Di Trolio
Ottawa is already the landfill capital of Canada, and more may be on the way.
The Capital Region Resource Recovery Centre (CRRRC) is a proposed landfill east of Ottawa on Boundary Rd. near Highway 417. At over 400 acres, it would be the largest landfill in the Ottawa area. The owners of the proposed landfill, Taggart-Miller, would start dumping 12 million tonnes of waste into the site– 360,000 truck loads per year. Taggart-Miller also likes to say that the landfill is simply part of a state-of-the-art recycling project, but 85% of the site is marked to be a landfill. The proposal isn’t just concerned with dumping waste from the National Capital Region. Because the site is regulated by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), the ministry could ultimately grant them authorization to ship in waste from across Ontario.
There are issues pertaining to the suitability of the site. There are several waterways that could be affected if the landfill is opened. The site is surrounded by environmentally sensitive areas including the Green Belt, and the site was rejected for a proposed landfill during the late 1980s because of weak soil conditions that could easily lead to chemicals from the waste spreading rapidly.
The battle over the CRRRC has now reached a critical phase. Taggart-Miller submitted their environmental assessment to the MOECC and it is now up to MOECC Minister Glen Murray to approve or reject the project after a public comment period for ministry review.
Local anti-landfill activists are calling on the public to write to Minister Murray to reject the CRRRC, or at the very least call for a public hearing before the Environment Review Tribunal. The period for public comment ends on May 20, 2016.
You can find information about the letter writing campaign here.
You can view the MOEE Environmental Assessment here.
