The clock is ticking on Muskoka's landfill capacity

By Tamara de la Vega On August 25, 2023 News

As Muskoka’s landfill capacity decreases day by day, all mechanisms are on deck to try and prolong the life of the Rosewarne site in Bracebridge—the only operating landfill left in Muskoka.

Current forecasts predict that Ontario will run out of landfill capacity in nine or fewer years, while Muskoka will run out of landfill space in nine to 10 years. The forecast for Muskoka takes into account incremental and seasonal growth, “but certainly the growth that we’ve been seeing over the last number of years is beyond sort of what was estimated,” explained District of Muskoka Commissioner of Engineering and Public Works, James Steele. He added that if Muskoka’s population continues to increase exponentially, the model will need to be readjusted.

“In the grand scheme of things, we’re probably better off than other folks in the province but still under capacity constraints,” noted Steele. “I think the industry is really concerned about it because ultimately the waste will still continue to arrive for disposal. Part of the folks in the province export landfill garbage to the United States and so we’ll have continued reliance on that.” Steele said other municipalities are looking at alternative means of disposal. For example, York and Durham have a shared energy centre where the waste is incinerated and the energy is recovered. It’s an expensive way of disposing of garbage and only really works for large population centres. “It’s not very predominant across Ontario right now but I think we’ll have to sort of be creative on how we address… the provincial constraint that we have,” said Steele.

“We’re under the gun, figuratively speaking, but I think what’s important is to extend the landfill as long as possible so that we can defer and give ourselves the amount of time that we need to figure out where ultimately the materials will go,” he said. “How do we squeeze out as much capacity from the existing landfill so that we don’t have to find a new site and/or expand a landfill beyond where it is? I think it’s inevitable that we’ll need some new site in Muskoka but the longer we can delay that, I think it certainly is the best for the environment but also the best for taxpayers as well.”

The District is expected to kick off its solid waste master plan next year, which will look at options for future disposal capacity and it may include a new landfill. It may also include exporting Muskoka’s waste elsewhere as well as looking at alternatives such as incineration. Ultimately, whether to pursue recommendations from municipal staff will rest with District council.

Steele emphasized the importance of extending Muskoka’s landfill as much as possible to give decision-makers an opportunity to explore options.

Garbage bin site transition

The sites don’t comply with the Environmental Protection Act, explained Steele. He said he understands their removal is an inconvenience for those who use them “but for the most part what we’re trying to achieve is moving to a system that supports them the way they need to be supported, whether it’s through expanding curbside collection or having a lakeside collection where a truck pulls in once or twice a week and allows people to drop off their materials at that time.” He said almost half of the sites have been transitioned and there hasn’t been a marked increase in illegal dumping. He noted the importance of taking ownership of the material one puts out and that’s not something that happens with garbage bin sites, which are also more often than not an eyesore.

Recycling program

Last fall the District moved to single-stream recycling, so you don’t need to sort your recyclables anymore. Check out a list of what’s recyclable HERE.

The recycling material is collected and taken to a building at the Roewarne landfill site in Bracebridge and pre-sorted for obvious items there. “So we have a loader operator that takes out big things that can’t go into the recycling, like appliances for example,” explained Steele. The type of materials that are visible to the eye, and not recyclable, are removed.

From the Rosewarne site the material is shipped to a processing plant in North York, which uses technology, “like artificial intelligence to sort the materials so that you don’t have to do it at the curbside,” explained Steele. “And what we’re seeing there is we’re able to recover the vast majority of the materials than perhaps might have been missed in the more manual sorting that we had in the previous work that we were doing.” The material is compartmentalized into different groups, like plastics and metals, and then it is packaged and resold as material for other forms of production. “There is a small amount that ends up going into the garbage, just sort of things that weren’t supposed to be there. You know, we’re not perfect, recycling isn’t perfect and so if someone inadvertently puts in the wrong thing in the bin, that gets pulled out and it becomes… what we call residual and that ends up going to the landfill.” The good news, said Steele, is that about 90 per cent of recycled material is recovered.

While under provincial legislation, municipalities have been responsible for the residential recycling program—which includes waste produced by single detached homes, multi-residential dwellings, seasonal dwellings, and vacation properties—the District will also accept commercial waste at its sites. It does not, however, have the jurisdiction to tell commercial entities how to manage their waste. However, Steele said the private sector does have an obligation to the Province to manage its waste appropriately, especially now that the Province has shifted to what’s being called producer responsibility. For example, the fact that the lids of Tim Hortons cups are now white as opposed to dark brown, which is what they were in the past, is a result of the Province’s shift. Another classic example is grocery stores no longer packaging prepared food or meats in dark plastic trays— that’s because black plastic materials are difficult to recycle because they are not easily detected on a conveyor belt, and businesses are now being required to recover a certain percentage of the material they use for packaging.

“So what we’re seeing is changes in the packaging environment that allows those materials to be recycled,” explained Steele. “So black materials are problematic in the recycling stream. And so what we’re seeing in the industry is the folks who are now responsible because of the extended producer responsibility are making business choices to say, ‘Hey if I have to retrieve x per cent of this material, I can’t put out materials that can’t be recycled,’ and so that’s the sort of shift that we’re seeing in the industry,” he explained.

Historically, municipalities were paying about 50 per cent of Ontario’s blue box program. With the shift to extended producer responsibility, producers will be responsible for 100 per cent of the cost of managing those materials, explained Steele.

“For Muskoka particularly, in November 2024, the producers will take over the blue box stream from Muskoka. So they’ll be responsible to collect, they’ll be responsible to manage those materials, and responsible to put them into beneficial uses. So what the taxpayer will see is generally they’ll put the material out the same way but it’s just who is collecting it may be different.”

In terms of oversight, the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, an entity mandated by the Province, will be responsible for the oversight of the new system, including other materials such as hazardous waste, added Steele.

Green bin program

The District plans to roll out the program to every property that has curbside collection in Muskoka, although at the moment the focus is on the communities of Bracebridge and Huntsville. “It is a multi-year project but we are continuing to move the needle on it,” said Steele. Those who receive the green bin service are required to put out one instead of two bags of garbage per week.

And yes, green bins are a stinky business, and while some prefer to line them with compostable bags, which is fine, said Steele, straight organics is preferred. Check out the list of what goes in the green bin, HERE.

The materials from the green bin program go out to either the Rosewarne landfill or to the Beiers Road transfer station and it is composted naturally by bacteria and cured over time. That material is then offered to residents as free compost or used by municipal public works departments.

Want to know more about waste in Muskoka? Click, HERE.

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