Now that the provincial government is carrying out a review of its waste management strategy, Peter Fenwick is calling for a delay in closing two landfills until the review is complete.
He has asked Municipal Affairs and Environment Minister Eddie Joyce to direct Western Regional Waste Management to delay the closing of the western regional landfill sites at Wild Cove in Corner Brook and for Bay St. George located in St. George’s.
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Fenwick, chairman of the Bay St. George Waste Management Committee, said Western Regional Waste Management is raising tipping fees enormously on the July 1, 2018 in order to pay for the cost of transporting waste to Central Newfoundland.
He said that increase, which will raise waste management fees by 50 per cent in his town of Cape St. George, was not mitigated by the diversion of organics to local facilities.
Fenwick said organics will not be addressed until 2025, which he sees as an intolerable delay costing towns and communities millions of dollars in increased tipping fees and in transportation cost.
He said the Bay St. George Waste Management Committee is in discussion with New World Dairies in Maidstone to divert the area’s organic waste to their digester for processing. He said if this is possible it will result in a 30 per cent reduction in waste being sent to Central Newfoundland.
Fenwick said a delay would allow Western Regional Waste Management an opportunity to negotiate a fairer tipping fee with Central Newfoundland.
Barbara Barter, chair of Western Regional Waste Management, said while the digester at New World Dairies might be the answer for organic waste in the end, she believes it could take some time to get the environmental approvals.
She said the dairy would first have to get a permit from government as the source waste from households is different from the type of material that’s going into the digester now.
“There would be a whole process for that (diversion to the dairy farm) to be considered,” Barter said.
She said it’s a good idea but there are regulations to follow before you move forward.
