North Frontenac Township – Mar. 11/10

Jeff Green | Mar 18, 2010

Several years ago the waste sites in North Frontenac were filling up at such a rate that the township was faced with the possibility of shipping garbage away by the middle of this decade.

The township entered into a long-term management plan for the six currently active sites and three closed sites in the township, and developed a more aggressive recycling program. These actions have made a marked difference.

The township now has a projected 21 years of dump capacity available, according to a report to Council by Guy Laporte and Anne Kloosterman of Aecom Consulting, the engineering company that works for North Frontenac. “The recycling program is really working, that's one major difference,” Anne Kloosterman said.

Kloosterman added there are two ways to calculate the amount of recycling that township residents are doing. “Because the operators now keep exceptional records, we know that of every 100 bags they receive, 46 are recycling compared to 54 that go into the dump,” she said.

For several years, North Frontenac has had a policy of “paying” for recycling by giving residents a $2 dump tag for every bag of recycling. Tags are required on each bag of waste. The township has also recently gone to a clear bag system to further ensure that recyclable materials do not end up in landfill.

Basing waste diversion calculations by total weight, however, doesn't yield quite the same result, Kloosterman said. “If we use the empirical prediction that each resident produces 1.5 kilograms per person per day of waste, and look at the total weight that went into landfill last year, we get a diversion rate of 38%, which is still a marked improvement over the past,” Kloosterman said.

Going forward, Kloosterman said, “The first 'R' in the three Rs of waste diversion, 'Reduce', will become more and more relevant. Packaging practices are changing, and so are people's buying habits. If that 1.5 kilograms per person per day is decrease to 1, the diversion rate would jump up,” she said.

Construction waste is another major factor when the total weight of materials going “over the hill” is considered. On that front, Public Works Manager John Ibey said he has been informed of a process by which companies can recycle old shingles into paving materials, so shingles may soon be removed from the waste stream.

North Frontenac also invested in hazardous waste recycling last year, and ten tons of hazardous waste was collected. “That is not a large number but this the really toxic, really gross stuff that you don't want in your landfill site,” Guy Laporte said.

At an e-waste recycling day, 5.1 tons were collected. Guy Laporte said it would be relatively simple for the township to collect e-waste at one or two of its sites, by purchasing an old shipping container and lining it with pallets.

The township invested in a compactor in 2009, and it was used extensively at some of the sites.

“The compaction had a major impact on your overall dump life capacity last year,” said Laporte, “it went from 19 years after 2008 to 21 years after 2009. Now that the sites have been compacted, that dramatic an impact will not continue to occur.”

In terms of the health of the environmental impact of the township’s sites, Aecom does monitoring on an ongoing basis, and deals directly with the Ministry of the Environment for the township. They propose to drill two new monitoring wells in 2010 as part of their monitoring work, one at the 506 site and one at Plevna.

Other items from NF Council –

Plevna medical clinic by the end of the year? Councilor Fred Perry attended an organizational meeting for a Northbrook-based Family Health Team and reported back to Council. The current time-lines that the Ministry of Health is working with call for the satellite clinic at Plevna to be accepting patients by the end of 2010. Council asked staff to invite Kim Bains, the consultant to the project, to attend a meeting of council and bring further details.

Kennel approved – Council approved a zoning application that will permit a breeding operation for small so-called “designer dogs” by a Mr. Whyte at his property on the South Lavant Road.

Council remuneration – It cost North Frontenac ratepayers $137,000 to pay salaries and expenses to the mayor, council, and members of the Committee of Adjustment in 2009. Councillors received $13,884 in salary, $600 in office expenses and varying amounts for mileage, conference and county meeting expenses.

Because Mayor Maguire took a leave for three months, he received less pay for the year ($16,820) than Deputy Mayor Jim Beam ($18,022) did for the year. Including all travel, mileage and conference costs, the total for Beam was $27,570 and Maguire $23,000. Among councillors, Fred Perry received the most overall, $18,600 and Lonnie Watkins the least, $14,713.

AFAR further away – Councilor Fred Perry continues to attend meetings of the Addington Frontenac Area Radio station project (AFAR) and he reported that group is now considering switching gears and seeking an AM band instead of FM. They are also looking at the ongoing costs and commitments that are connected to operating a station. “The complications have been mounting but the committee is still working out solutions to the problems,” Perry said.