One thing everyone has in common is that we produce garbage in our weekly lives, and increasing discussions are happening within the municipal levels as the expected closure of the Simcoe County landfill looms for 2027.
Tiny Township committee of the whole members discussed a rejected proposal at the Simcoe County council in late May that could have seen a requirement for a green bin at the time of a garbage pick-up. Coun. Steffen Walma asked county representative Deputy Mayor Sean Miskimins for an overview of what transpired, as Walma is the designated alternate for Tiny when required.
“It was overturned, so we are not exploring that at this time,” explained Miskimins. “Although it is a great idea, I think there's way too much… going on with waste management right now, knowing that we've got a whole new blue box program that’s being developed, although it feels like they’re bolting the plane as they fly it. Right now, there’s not enough information.”
Walma agreed that it was a good program with the right intent, and shared his thoughts as a resident of the county.
“At that last meeting, (county solid waste management director Rob McCullough) cited that we’re looking at 2027 – complete landfill capacity: gone. Everything being shipped out,” said Walma. “I think that’s something that this council should maybe poke our fellow county councillors into starting to discuss brainstorming solutions so that it’s not just a next-term-of-council decision.”
Mayor Dave Evans, who also sits on county council, justified voting down the proposal to pair the green bin with the garbage bin for pick up, calling it “a kind of punitive enforcement approach” in his reasoning.
“I found the idea that ‘you're paying taxes to get your garbage picked up and now we're putting conditions on you that you have to get your garbage picked up, but you're still paying for those taxes’; and that sort of struck me as not quite ethical in a sense,” said Evans.
Evans also noted that garbage discussions at the county level get everyone involved, with Walma especially engaged when active.
“Nobody wants a garbage dump in their backyard, and we can all understand why – but the big dark thing in the closet is getting closer and closer to 2027," he said.
Miskimins and Coun. Dave Brunelle shared an exchange on possible exemptions by the county for composting in rural townships such as Tiny, with Miskimins praising the free aspect of using compost for home gardening and agricultural purposes.
Brunelle admitted: “We do it at our house and we rarely have the green bin go out to the road; maybe once a year, because we pretty well put everything in that compost which I think is an acceptable practice.”
A breakdown of what materials can and can’t be used with composters, organics, and garbage bins is available on the Simcoe County website. Walma noted that some residents may not know which went where, and Brunelle noted that an education component might be required for residents to understand the differences.
Following the meeting, Evans told MidlandToday that long-term garbage export would be discussed at the next Simcoe County committee of the whole meeting, but stated he wasn’t familiar enough with the subject to be qualified for an expert opinion on the provincial issue.
“I think residents are already doing a great job with the diversion rates on recyclables and inorganics. Garbage though requires, unfortunately, a final solution – and the final solutions have all been landfill oriented. Are there other options for garbage geographically? Yes. Depending on how far they are, there’s obviously going to be cost consideration with those – of course, everything goes up,” said Evans.
“It’s going to have to be something where we’re going to have to find new locations, or find new technology, all of which are difficult to bring into a public that’s traditionally been very reluctant – as we’ve seen with Site 41 in the past – to move to a new area.”
Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.
