The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

mZMâ€"Wlaslyemmrwmdlmcre are official numbels â€"â€" 43 per cent of York's garbage was sent to landfill. The man's official 57-pcr-ccnt diversion rate Was third-best in the prm'ince and tops in its population category. Also. the actual number is even higher since some of what's wilected at the unrb is divefled kxafly. Domens of seagulls snap up morsels of trashasMr.Beaoockumanhsanumbtella. electrical wines, a plastic Canola oil container anda,20â€"lltreplasticpail.Hesooopsupabaz- terywith his shovel. "There's a real no-no.” says the Brock Township landfill operator. "I don't know how many times we tell the public. “mate's one minglhateseelnginalandfillisany battery." ' 1115: items could have been divefled through one of Ontario's provinocwide waste diversion programs. But they ended up here. WhileYorkRegionhasbeenoneofthe more aggressive innovators when it comes to trash diversion. some efforts have been more successful and cost effu'tiw: than others. Local hndfillinghasn’t been an issue since Keele Valley landfill closed in 2002. Keeping trash out of landfill at all costs has been. a priority 0! York Region council.le biggest single effon to do so is the Durham- York 'energy-from-waste incinerator. now under construction in Clarington. Bob Beacock ignores the owrpmvering stench. He walks into a pile of sticky. tom gar- bage bags dumped on top of one of Ontario's heaping landfill sites The woo-million facility. the first built in Ongario in 20 years. has raised the batches of many r environmental groups Nonaheless, \brkandDudmm regions. chhamsluring the cost with an 80/20 split favouring Dut- ham. contend it will have the most stringent environmental standards in the wodd when it opens in 2014. It is also expected to generate power that can be fed back into the provincial grid. It isn’t the‘ only major investinem the region is making either. While the region collgcts its awn green bin PROVINCE 0N BR4NK OFWASTE CRISIS BY CAMPBELL AND THANA DHARMARAIAH TRASH TROUBLES GIA'PUNG WITH OUI GAIIAGI Fman markets tor dash Fewer landfills m future fi'lfi 1“ 'I'OI' Mtk WAS" m (“I”) no. SYAVISYICfi VH" MUMC IPAUISS “Undo! rm m» that (ho mayday h In I!" me» o! flow-bomb o! updaflng than. wan: mm! W plan an" . now dwvnoory W «a b- COIOD‘Whod waste, plants in Niagara and London. 0m. have been handling the processing. despite setbacks with local odour issues W both Ontario plants now seem to be operating well. the shutdowns will almost oenainly knock York offlts perch at the top of the divctsion list when the 2010 numbers are released catty next year. No! a Magic munbdpalw wmyod by Mottoland u hitting 0" watt. dwuuon target, (Inpu- amhlflous plans landfills u- ovorflowtng (austh prank-ms In taping with its anynhing-but-landfill nmldate. the region sent excess gmen bin was”: to the United States. : V Ont-solution. mwwendingit’s way'thmugh the RF? process. is for the region to construe! its own processing plant in Duflefin County. It's set to open in 2013 and handle about half the region's organic waste. - Oihet [Ocalrsolutions have also faced chalâ€" lenges. Vaughan’s Dongara plant opened in zoos. pr’omising to turn some of York's waste intopelletsmatcanbebilmedasaamlsub- stitutc. 1112 legion celebrates this month the open- ing of its second Community Environmental Centre. in Richmond Hill. Shutdown; at the two plants meant as much as 90 per cent of the York's organic. waste wasgoingtolandfill untilan agreement was reached with a Massachusetts company to take more. ' A of issues, meant the plant wasn't able to process the 100100 tonnes it was contracted to take. but things hm improved following millions of dollars in upgrades in 2010. The fim. operating in Vaughan since mid- 2009. has produced positive and negative results, ‘ ‘ The McCleary Court cemfe' has won awards for Its innovative design and a onc- stopâ€"shop approach that allows residents MUNICIPALITY BY MUNICIPALITY: Arc w. ranchln'g a crIsIs? County a! 54mm. OIVIMN DIVIISOO” WNICI'ALIYY HAT. YARGIT lumâ€" an!“ , :59. «um W) 333V“ m1” syn-t «by 3913 maniacmum “WI”. @Wflo“ 71”!!!” mm 1015 (MM! established ambitious waste diversion targets during the last derade. but today. more than half of the 5 million tonnes of waste picked up at Ontario curbsides annually gets dumped instead of recycled or reused That 2.? million tonnes of waste that muld have been dive-fled is equivalent to the weight of 6.222 Boeing 747 jets. to drop 06 excess trash. recycle computets and other ekactmnics. dispose of mcyclablm and construction material and even donate unwanted goat to Habitat for Humanity. Howevet. the centre took in only about half the projécted waste, meaning pet-tonne costs are highter than expected. But it’s a different story througl1bu10mar~ iawhcrepmgmmssuchasthcbmeboxmay have lulled usyinto believing we're doing all we can to help the environment and redum waste. But ’Ilash 'lluubltfi. a Metroland Cial Report. shows we aren't being as diligent as we think. “Our garbage continues to outstrip avail- able landfill space.’ AMO president Gary McNamm salfl. “We must either reduce our wasie and recycle more waste. or accept new landfills or lnc'merators in our communities.” York is also developing Sm4n Living. an integrated plan to manage waste in the future. Provincem'de. 55 per cent of garbage that could be recycled ends up in landfills iristcad. As a result, landfills are filling up fast and we are on the brink of a waste disposal crisis. the Association of Municipalities of Ontario says. For example. ‘lhree-quaners of plastic: that should be waded end up in landfills instead. V, RECYCIAILES TO LANDFILL V -Mw‘ . M...m;v..m.w_,w.-m» .. m m “mafia; an M DIS'OSAL 'ACILIT V thus.- Wmuqm. rw4( 0W 0..» TM 1/ no! HAM“ um suit 1 At! an “'n'sere's a good portion of the population who am very devout. who take a lot of timv and souffleacock said at the Brock'rownship site. northeast of Toronto. "The nest of them do nothing It's just all Wham ham 'm a bag and out to the curb." The same items Mr. Bc-auxk is pulling «ml of (he Brod: dump .are cramming municipal landfills acmss Ontario. contributing m the crisis that wmfles AMO. And even though organics make up about one-third of thcprovince's waste. onry 40 per cent of Ontarians hawaccess to a mirbsido’ green bin program. Ontario towns and cities havemade bare- ly a dent in the truckloads of plastic hm, 06$. pop cans. magaz'nes. milk cartons and other household garhagc that still end up m dumps. ‘ - A 2010 repon by Ontario's Auditor Gen- eral ranked the province sixth in ('hnada by waste-diversitm rate. behind Nova Rania. Prince Edward Island. New ansWick. British Columbia and Quebec and well behind most European countries Landfills are running out of space u! already full. Brock Township will run out of space in two years. landfills in at least six 0. ‘r municipalities. 'tpc!udmg‘$1mcm* (Ioun ”. Nonhumbedand and Musknka. ml] fill up within mycars. . More than $320 million was spent un waste diversion in Ontario last year, through pmgrams funded by industry, municipali- ties and the province. Consumers also pay through eco fees on certain products. The results of these programs am pour. Not a sings community survcyvd for 'l‘msh Troubles. this Metroland Special Report. has hit its wastedh'ersion goal. (nan) LOCATION V2 yuan ("We m We M.) Iva-"MC Inked: undfll Want-tam in 20145 LANDF‘LL CAPACITY (yells I'm-4mm) 31M