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Jeff Green | Mar 15, 2007

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Two dumps to close in Central FrontenacbyJeffGreen

The Arden and Elbow Lake dumps will be closing within the next six weeks.

At their meeting on Monday night, March 12, 2007, Central Frontenac Council decided to stop residents from tossing their garbage over the hill at both locations by the end of April, but they are hoping to have the approvals in place to turn the Elbow Lake dump (in Hinchinbrooke ward) into a waste transfer station by the time it is scheduled to close on April 20th.

Arden residents will have to travel to the Olden dump as of April 30th.

The decisions to close the dumps came about when an ad hoc committee on recycling delivered their report to council. The report said that the Hinchinbrooke site “is rapidly nearing capacity (estimated to be about 1 month) and that conversion of this site to a Transfer Station needs to proceed immediately. This conversion requires application to MoE for approval, and decisions will be required around how the site is to be operated.”

In the case of the Arden site, the report says that during a site visit with the township’s consultant on March 7, “it was agreed that the site ‘in theory’ could accommodate garbage. However the remaining capacity is only available over the southern portion of the site and complete filling of this area will soon present real operational challenges relating to both dropping off recyclables and dealing with recyclables.”

The committee recommended that the Arden site be closed to the public, and the remaining space used up by dumping waste that will be transferred from the Hinchinbrooke site once it closes.

Council has discussed the fate of the two dumps periodically over the past two years. Some councilors were surprised at the timing of the closure of the Arden dump, which was not expected until the end of 2007 or early in 2008.

Councilor Gary Smith from Kennebec Ward said that he thought a transfer station had been discussed for Arden as well as Hinchinbrooke, but interim clerk John DuChene said he has seen no record of that.

“It is unfortunate for the people of Arden that their dump will be closing and they will have to travel to Olden. Not everyone will be pleased,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski.

Recycling contract – Faced with a demand by their recycling contractor, MANCO, that they purchase larger bins, the township has decided to seek another contractor. MANCO will continue to haul recycling until the end of March, and the township has found another hauler that will then take over on an interim basis.

“This will give us the opportunity to assess the costs of new bins, and consider other options. We can then go to tender for our recycling needs,” said John Purdon of the recently formed recycling committee. Purdon also reported that the township has a long way to go with its recycling program.

“I did some internet research, and found in a report from Waste Diversion Ontario that of the 24 municipalities in our geographical and size category, we ranked 17th in 2005, so there is room for improvement,” he said.