Both Mayors Daniel Lafleur and François St-Amour want GFL Environmental Ltd. to do something to deal with the occasional foul odour that blows over part of their communities, whenever the wind is right.
“For our municipality, when the wind comes in going to the west, it’s awful,” said Mayor Lafleur, regarding the situation for Casselman.
Mayor St-Amour said the odour from GFL’s regional waste operation near Moose Creek is often a problem for residents in the Village of Saint-Isidore and surrouding neighbourhoods. Both mayors aired their concerns to GFL officials, during a recent open house in Moose Creek, concerning the company’s proposal for a major expansion of its Eastern Ontario Waste Handling Facility (EOWHF).
The company has applied to the Ontario Ministry of Environment for approval of a 15.1 million cubic metre expansion of its existing landfill and recycling facility site. GFL officials say the present 11.6 million cubic metre site is almost at capacity and will be filled up within half a dozen years. The expansion is needed so that the EOWHF operation can continue for another 20 years.
Incineration option
Both mayors understand that the expansion may be necessary for the regional waste facility’s future. But they wonder why GFL doesn’t consider adding a high-temperature incinerator to the facility to deal with some of the waste materials.
“My biggest issue is they’re still burying garbage,” said St-Amour. “It’s archaic.”
“Why don’t they put in an incinerator?” said Lafleur. “If they ever enlarge their dump site, then the smell will be worse.”
Both mayors asked GFL officials about an incinerator option for the facility’s expansion plan but were not satisifed with the response.
“We didn’t have any answer back,” said Lafleur.
Casselman’s mayor expressed his concern about the situation to his fellow mayors on the United Counties of Prescott and Russell council (UCPR), during the February 12 committee of the whole session. The EOWHF is located within the United Counties of Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry (UCSDG), outside of the UCPR’s jurisdiction. But Lafleur asked UCPR council to register a concern with the Ministry of Environment as part of the current review process for GFL Ltd.’s operation expansion proposal.
