Zero Waste Simcoe

The County of Simcoe has established an advisory committee to work with the County Staff and the consultant Stantec to develop a twenty year plan for its waste management. The initial report by Stantec appears to be more of the same with an uncomfortable slant to landfills as a big part of the solution. For some reason this approach still seems to make logical sense to the senior bureaucrats at the County who are directing the exercise.
I attended a meeting in Midland last week which was a town hall format and chaired by Gordon McKay from Zero Waste Simcoe (http://www.zerowastesimcoe.org). Even though it was an eclectic crowd, many consistent concerns where tabled, which Gordon will take to the next meeting of the waste advisory committee on Monday.
Waste is a growing problem and all of us are part of that problem. We must become part of the solution, if we really want to abandon the use of landfills in the longer term.
I encourage people to get involved with Zero Waste Simcoe and support their efforts and attend the County meetings which are open to the public. We saw what can happen when the citizens put pressure on the politicians to change their stance as happened with Site 41. Let us avoid another insane approach to waste management by putting pressure on the County as they develop the plan. This may help avoid spending 10 to 15 million dollars of our hard earned tax dollars on another debacle like Site 41.
Your presence would be appreciated on Monday January 18th starting at 9:00 a.m in the Council Chambers at the County Administration building in Midhurst. Please be involved and help us as a community come up with a new leading edge and inventive solution rather than follow the path of mediocrity in our long term waste solution.