CAYUGA—Here they grow again: Brooks Road Environmental laid out its newest and biggest expansion plans to concerned residents at an open house on October 24, 2023 at Cayuga Kinsmen Hall.
The company launched an environmental screening process in 2022 to expand capacity vertically and horizontally at its Cayuga landfill, initially for an additional 100,000 cubic metres.
This request has since grown to 219,400 cubic metres, which would allow a grand total of 375,000 cubic metres of non-hazardous industrial, commercial, and institutional waste (including impacted soils) at the site.
The added capacity is expected to equate to two additional years of collection above the current approved capacity, which already saw a vertical expansion in 2019.
The increased expansion request is thanks to changes in the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act approved in August – specifically Ontario Regulation 101/7, whereby a landfill can use a streamlined environmental assessment process so long as the total waste disposal volume is not increased by more than 25%.
The site needs to be re-engineered, with both the sides to expand vertically and expanding the existing landfill horizontally to the north. The north perimeter would need modifications to the access road and stormwater drainage ditch. The formal railway property to the north would still act as a natural buffer, and the other buffer lands would be maintained.
Currently the landfill has a daily capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day, and Brooks Road Environmental stated in its presentation that the growth is in response to increased demand.
No representative at the open house could speak to the percentage of waste coming to the facility from Haldimand versus the GTA, but said they would provide the amount at the November 1 meeting after press time.
The environmental screening process evaluated aspects of the environment that could be affected by the proposed expansion. The areas of study included natural environment, geology and hydrogeology; noise, surface water, transportation, land use and socioeconomic affects, and air quality.
The net effects of these were found to be negligible, as the company stated all the mitigation measures were considered to be already in place.
“I only received the flyer on Wednesday and it’s not very much time,” said nearby resident, Diane Manto, on notice provided for the open house. “I could have been away, anything, because this was supposed to happen in June.”
Manto is among a group of residents who regularly attend the quarterly meetings with Brooks Road Environmental, and she asked questions at every slide.
“No negative impacts on recreation, tourism, and aesthetics of the area, and predicted positive financial impacts to the area, (such as) economic base, local employment, and labour supply,” read Manto from one of the 20 slides posted around the hall. “Who is the labour supply, and how many from Haldimand are they even employing?”
She continued, “They haven’t fixed the leachate, there’s silt in the ditches, and now they want to expand – it’s absolutely wrong.”
After the third public meeting on November 1, next steps will be to prepare a draft environmental screening report to document the environmental screening process. The report will be then available for review.
