The city division responsible for the removal of thousands of tonnes of material dredged out of a creek in Hamilton, Ont., says a contractor seeking to dispose of a load being turned away from a landfill was simply a “misunderstanding.”
Cari Vanderperk’s, the city’s director of watershed management, confirms a truck was turned away at the gate of GFL’s outlet in Upper Stoney Creek amid concerns from the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) over environmental compliance approval provisions.
Vanderperk says GFL opted to restrict disposal due to a “misunderstanding around the classification of the waste,” which the MECP submitted was refuse from a combined sewage spill not compliant with environmental approvals governing a municipally-owned sewage works facility.
“So we are looking at other landfills,” Vanderperk explained.
“We’re trying to weigh the issue of logistics, and we want to make sure that we’re finding a landfill that’s in close proximity that can accept waste from a municipally-owned sewage works.”
The city started hauling material away from Kay Drage Park on Nov. 21 and estimates they have about 400 truckloads to dispose of.
So far, only eight loads have been dealt with.
Contractors finished targeted dredging within Chedoke Creek on Nov.17 and the machine doing it was removed the following Sunday.
During budget discussions with a committee in late November, Hamilton’s director of water, Nick Winters, said the final phase of the project must be completed by Dec. 31.
“Drying the material that was removed from the creek, trucking it away for disposal, and restoring Kay Drage Park to its original condition,” Winters said.
Winters confirmed the dredged material was being taken to the GFL landfill in Upper Stoney Creek, but at the time, said he was not concerned it would exacerbate odour issues that have recently plagued residents in that area.
“It has been mixed with a polymer to help with de-watering, it’s been drying in the geo-tubes since July for what is being removed from the site,” he said
The dredging work was part of an MECP order to undertake some sort of remediation of the waterway following the release of 24 billion litres of untreated wastewater between 2014 and 2018.
The tight timeline to have the material transported off-site suggests the city will seek someplace local for disposal since distance could mean longer transport times and potentially requisitioning of more trucks.
“As far as the budget is concerned … there are no alarm bells being rung, so to speak, to say there’s an issue with what was originally estimated in the bid from our contractor,” said Vanderperk.
MECP spokesperson Gary Wheeler confirmed the landfill’s approval prohibits the disposal of sewage waste, but permits the disposal of contaminated soils.
“The ministry informed GFL and the city that material from the Chedoke Creek Remediation project may contain sewage material,” Wheeler said.
“When GFL was informed of the potential presence of sewage in the dewatered sediments, GFL independently decided to refrain from accepting these materials.”
Global News has reached out to GFL for comment but have not received a reply since the publishing of this post.