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Millions going to U.S. Continued from page 9 25 · Wednesday, October 26, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com space within the landfills they own, despite opposition from environmentalists. Niagara Region wants to expand Welland's Humberstone Landfill so it is able to accept waste for about 25 more years. Now, it will be at capacity in 2016. It is undergoing an environmental assessment expected to last about three years. Humberstone sits 12 metres above ground and the plan is to heighten it by six metres. "It is really about financial sustainability," said Andy Pollock, Niagara's director of waste management services. He said if Humberstone is expanded, Niagara taxpayers will save $18 million over 20 years. Pollock said the expansion means the region would not have to pay to ship the trash to a private facility. Kawartha Lakes is one of the luckier municipalities. It has five landfills, although one will be full in two years. For the next 28 years, it will have space for its trash. Other communities are not as fortunate. Both of Northumberland county's landfills will be full in five years. The county has started an environmental assessment to expand its Brighton landfill for 11 more years. During that time it is working on a 25-year waste management plan. In Muskoka, two landfills -- Gravenhurst and Stisted -- are set to close within six years. The community got an approval in 2009 to expand its Bracebridge site. It only had four years left, but now it can function until 2035. Muskoka expects Bracebridge will be the only landfill to handle all of its waste. Overflowing landfills also have caused some municipalities to seek cross-border solutions for disposal of their trash. Peel, Durham, York and Toronto, which have exhausted their waste sites, used to truck garbage to Michigan, an agreement that ended in December, 2010. Other places still send their trash across the border. Some municipalities are finding other states to take their garbage and organics. Durham and Napanee are shipping waste to New York. Durham says it is a temporary solution until its incinerator opens in 2014. Napanee's garbage goes to New York after its landfill closed in June. Guelph's wet waste went to an incinerator in Niagara Falls, N.Y. since its old composter shut down in 2006. It just opened a new organics plant in September and is no longer sending organics across the border. Some of York's organics head to a compost facility in Marlborough, Massachusetts, because the region's Ontario contractor cannot handle all the green bin waste. Toronto bought the Green Lane landfill, near St. Thomas, in 2007 and since January all of Toronto's trash is disposed in the site. Guelph also sends its garbage there. York has a contract to use Green Lane for emergencies, while it sends most of its trash to a landfill in Niagara Falls. Seeking U.S. answers for municipal waste is not the best solution, said Rob Cook, Ontario Waste Management Association's CEO. Ontarians should be self-sufficient, he said, and municipalities are handing over about $80 million to American landfills that could have gone to Ontario businesses. There are also concerns about the border shutting down to Ontario trash. Cook added that if there are any security issues, we are vulnerable. For example, after Sept. 11, the border closed for two days. Toronto's trash could not be collected and it backed up the system. "Managing our waste is a hard service like our wastewater and we certainly wouldn't rely on the U.S. to give us water," he said. Fine cabinetry for anywhere in your home 905-632-0029 Family Owned & Operated Since 1976 Beat the Christmas Rush! Come and see us now and be ready to entertain. On cabinets with complete kitchens purchase. 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