A proposed landfill that has been the subject of nearly a decade’s worth of pushback has received another blow in the form of a unified rejection from four municipal councils.
On Wednedsay, Oxford County council became the latest group of municipal leaders to vote against supporting the Southwestern Landfill, a proposed project from Walker Environmental Group Inc. that has its eyes set on Zorra Township.
If completed, the landfill would accept up to 850,000 tonnes of waste per year from various parts of Ontario, adding up to a total of 17-million tonnes over its 20-year life span, according to Walker.
The landfill has been a point of contention for nine years in the area and spurred the creation of resident-led advocacy groups Oxford People Against the Landfill (OPAL) Alliance and Stop The Zorra Dump.
Last summer, the Ontario government introduced changes to the Environmental Assessment Act that requires proponents of a proposed landfill to receive support from all municipalities within 3.5 kilometres of the proposed site.
This means Walker would need to obtain support from the municipal councils of Zorra Township, Ingersoll, South-West Oxford Township and Oxford County before the company could begin work on the Southwestern Landfill.
On July 7, Zorra Township’s council became of the first of the four municipalities to vote in favour of a motion rejecting the landfill.
The vote prompted a letter from Walker announcing the environmental assessment for the landfill had been placed “on hold.”
“At every step during this environmental assessment, Walker followed the science and followed the provincial process. We engaged and consulted with stakeholders and Indigenous peoples. We considered and incorporated their input,” wrote Darren Fry, the project director for the proposed landfill’s environmental assessment.
“While we are disappointed with the outcome of our efforts to develop the proposed Southwestern Landfill in Oxford County, we remain open to future discussions on how we can work together to continue to support Oxford County communities with safe, reliable resource recovery and waste management solutions.”
On Monday and Tuesday, the councils for Ingersoll and South-West Township also voted against supporting the landfill, respectively, before Oxford County council followed suit on Wednesday morning.
“When settlers first arrived on Turtle Island, we survived only by learning from our First Nations brothers and sisters, and somewhere along the way, we stopped learning and we have all paid the price for that,” said Coun. Marcus Ryan, who also serves as Zorra’s Mayor, ahead of the vote denouncing support for the landfill.
“One of the teachings we can still learn is seventh-generation decision making. This says that when making decisions as a community, we should the consequences on not only ourselves, not only our grandchildren, but our grandchildren’s grandchildren’s grandchildren.”
Ryan also expressed hope that the new legislative power granted to municipalities when it comes to supporting landfills will spur a wide desire for waste diversion, a sentiment that was reiterated by Coun. Ted Comiskey.
“Why create the waste to begin with?” said the councillor who also serves as Ingersoll’s mayor.
“There are so many directions that we can go in through manufacturing and through processes of merchandising that we do not need to have the waste we have today.”
Oxford County councillors voted unanimously to support Ryan’s motion against supporting the landfill.
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