Waterloo Region has officially broken ground on a massive two-year construction project to expand its primary waste site at 925 Erb St. W.
The expansion, which began on June 1, will take place entirely within the facility’s existing boundaries. The project will buy local municipalities critical time, adding an estimated 20 years of capacity to the region’s rapidly filling garbage cells.
Managing the region’s mounting garbage requires more than just a last-minute decision. It is a process that takes years of preparation.
“The waste never stops.We always have waste being produced and coming, so we monitor very carefully how much waste is coming to the site, and we have a model that actually helps us predict when we need these new cells,” explained Rachel Vaillancourt, the manager of engineering and infrastructure at Waterloo Region’s Waste Management, adding that they have to start the planning several years in advance.
“When we see our volumes four years in advance, we actually have to start designing a new cell, so if we see a need for it four years from now, that means we have to start designing the cell, and then constructing, because it takes two years to construct.”
The first year of construction is the excavation portion for the cell. The following year is construction for the liner and everything else that goes into the cell, making it ready to have waste poured into it.
While the new cells secure a 20-year lifeline, regional officials are trying to stretch that timeline through waste-diversion programs.
“If we do a good job with diversion programs, we can extend that, then maybe we’ll say, now we’re up to 25 years left in our landfill,” Vaillancourt noted.
Data tracking from the region reveals that local businesses are the primary contributors to the landfill, generating 60 per cent of the site’s total waste. Residential garbage accounts for the remaining 40 per cent. A large portion of business waste comes from construction and demolition.
“It’s about 42 per cent construction, renovation, and demolition, and then within that business waste, there’s still 25 per cent recyclable materials, and 10 per cent is organic matter,” said Vaillancourt.
Household habits are also a hurdle, with around 46 per cent of residential waste actually being organic waste thrown in the trash.
The new green bin cart program might help divert waste, but Vaillancourt said it’s too early to tell how much the program will help.
The region is not alone in its struggle. Municipalities across Ontario are either reaching capacity limits or have them looming overhead, forcing local governments to share data and seek innovative solutions.
The region is currently developing a comprehensive, long-term waste management strategy to determine what happens once the Erb Street site is completely full. Every solution will be carefully analyzed to see what is environmentally sound and feasible locally.
“Every municipality in Ontario is in the same situation. So, lucky for us, we also learn from other municipalities,” said Vaillancourt, adding that they will have to look at things like whether it is possible to extend the boundaries of the landfill or extract energy from waste.
A hint of hope in the waste conversation is the region’s improvement over the past 20 years.
“I started in the region 20 years ago, and 20 years ago, they were saying there were 20 years left in the landfill, but because we’ve done such a great job with recycling programs and green bin programs, we keep extending the life of the landfill. We definitely consider it an asset.”
