Some residents of the communities surrounding the Otter Lake landfill are pushing back against the Halifax Regional Municipality’s application to deactivate its front-end processor and waste stabilization facility.
The landfill in the Timberlea region has been operating since 1999 and 40 per cent of the municipality’s residential waste is disposed there.
The facility has a front-end processor, which removes hazardous material and recyclables, and a waste stabilization facility which takes organic waste and stabilizes it with aerobic decomposition before it’s buried in the landfill.
On its website, the Halifax Regional Municipality states these systems were developed when just five per cent of waste materials were diverted from landfill disposal — before the municipality launched its green cart program.
“Given the change in composition of waste being landfilled since the late 1990s, as well the success of the municipality’s solid waste program, the municipality believes that the FEP/WSF could be ‘deactivated’ — paused and able to resume operations if required — with waste directly landfilled without pre-processing, similar to all other landfills in Nova Scotia, while continuing to operate Otter Lake in an environmentally sound manner with no impacts to the local community.”
The municipality has submitted an application to deactivate those systems and has conducted public consultation with the site operator, Mirror Nova Scotia Inc.
The Department of Environment says the application is under review.
Scott Guthrie, chair of the Otter Lake Community Monitoring Committee, is calling on the department not to approve the changes.
“Without the (front-end processor/waste stabilization) process, we don’t have any other method of guaranteeing that only acceptable waste will ever enter that site,” he said.
The committee is asking community members to write to Environment Minister Timothy Halman to oppose the application.
‘Why fix something that isn’t broken?’
During the public consultation process, which ran from Nov. 3 to Dec. 6, 2021, 1,816 residents out of the 1,905 surveys completed had concerns regarding potential negative impacts. Of the 1,816 responses, 689 were from residents within a five-kilometre radius.
Guthrie said the community’s concerns include increases in odour, rats, scavenger bird populations and flying debris in the vicinity.
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“The Timberlea area is one of the fastest growing areas in HRM,” he said. “The landfill site is two-and-a-half kilometres from Sobeys and a world-class golf course. We’re not having any complaints. Why fix something that isn’t broken?”
According to a report from Dillon Consulting, there are some measures that could be taken, such as a baiting program for rodents, enhanced bird and vector control efforts, fencing and additional litter collecting, and minimizing the site of the active disposal area.
Coun. Pam Lovelace, who represents Hammonds Plains-St. Margarets, said she supports the municipality’s application.
The municipality continues to reduce the amount of waste heading to the facility, she said, and the Otter Lake landfill is the only one that uses these systems.
“I would like to see this facility modernized and to have the (processes) shelved for a year so we can monitor the results and actually have a benchmark to see what differences we have.”
To keep the front-end processor and waste stabilization facility operating would cost approximately $2 million within the $170 million budget for the municipality.
— with files from Amber Fryday
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