Watch: Montreal has finally found a place to put its new composting site, but not everyone’s happy
MONTREAL – The city of Montreal announced Wednesday, where it would be building the composting site to replace the one in Saint-Michel. It has settled on Rivieres-des-Prairies, at a location at the corner of the Metropolitan and Saint-Jean Baptiste Boulevards.
“It will have a direct impact on our own way of life,” said Mayor Denis Coderre.
“That’s what sustainable development is all about.”
Residents of Saint-Michel were strongly opposed the composting site that the city initially wanted to build in that borough.
The city said Wednesday that the new location shouldn’t bother anyone, as the closest homes are almost two kilometres away.
Chantal Rouleau, the mayor of Rivieres-des-Prairies, said that the new facility will help the borough in more ways than one.
“I’m sure it’s a good thing, it will be a very good way to develop our economy,” she said.
“It’s not garbage that will be put into place. It’s resources that we will use to decontaminate our soil.”
Watch: Stephen McLeod from Compost Montreal talks about composting
The opposition isn’t pleased, though, claiming there are now too many compost facilities in the east.
“It will be the third factory, two big ones, and a small one,” said Richard Bergeron, leader of the opposition.
“That’s the end of territorial equity.”
The opposition said that different parts of Montreal should “share the burden.”
Composting sites are a provincial requirement and the city is promising to consult local residents to get their point of view.
“We are going to be having public consultation sessions, where people will be allowed to express themselves and will be allowed to look at, question and kick hard what the city is proposing,” said Alan Desousa, who helped launch a composting plant in his borough.
“I think it’s important to understand that we have a responsibility to do what we can to make sure that what we produce and what we consider as waste is not really waste, it’s a resource,” he said, adding it was vital to remember the good that composting sites can do for the environment.
Comments