Regional landfill a go-ahead for St. George's

A motion was passed at a special meeting of St. George's town council late last year for the town to accept Municipal Affairs' suggestion they become the regional landfill site, pending the funding put in place to immediately get the site ready for it.

Since then, meetings have taken place all over the region between the communities of Bay St. George and the Town of St. George's to sort out what it will all mean.

The plan agreed upon thus far is this: the current dump in the Town of St. George's be upgraded to become the region's transfer landfill site for the next few years, until such time that a western regional committee has chosen a 'supersite' for the entire west coast.

Communities are signing on to have their garbage trucked to the Town of St. George's for land filling, probably commencing sometime this summer. Tenders have gone out to see what the cost of curbside pick-up might be in areas other than Stephenville and Kippens as these communities already have garbage trucks and a pick up system in place.

Concerns have been expressed by members of the St. George's Economic Development Committee that the dumpsite could mean environmental waste leeching into the ground in that town. They want to see a focus more on waste management, including recycling, rather than just land filling.

Arlene Blanchard is a member of the economic development committee. She says citizens want to have their concerns raised and voices heard.

"We spoke with the town and regional council [of which Stephenville Mayor Tom O'Brien is chair] and said let's do it right - let's do a waste management site rather than a landfill site only. So that's what we're working on," she says.

Ms. Blanchard says two meetings the group held recently were well attended by not only members of the St. George's and Barachois Brook communities, but residents of the towns of Kippens and Stephenville, as well.

She says they all have the same goal in mind - to work together to make sure the site is better before it even starts.

St. George's Mayor Fintan Alexander says the town has met with the group and heard its concerns, adding the town is waiting on a letter from the group asking questions about the environmental impact of the site. He says the letter will be turned over to consultant BAE Newplan Group Ltd. so that they may answer any questions the group has.

"We have a guarantee from BAE Newplan for low leeching," he says. "As an added precaution they will be putting in ground monitoring wells and checking these periodically to see if there is any contamination. If there is contamination they would take action then to clean it up."

Mayor Alexander says he assured the economic group and concerned citizens the town's intention is to manage the waste that comes into the site once it is up and in operation. He says that will begin by encouraging people to recycle.

"Which starts at the kitchen sink of the individual," he says.

The mayor says the hope is that some recyclable items will be separated and brought to the site at specific times. While he says they can't guarantee all recyclable items will in fact be recycled, he says once the site is up and ready the waste will be handled in a responsible way.

Mayor Alexander says along with tenders having been let for curb side pick up, tenders will soon be called for equipment hire to tear down and clean up the town's incinerator and for upgrades to the current waste site in the town. Total capital cost is expected to be about $310,800.12 and will come from the province to prepare the site for land filling.

The site will be temporary, pending a regional super dump, which is to be set up for the entire western region by 2016, although a site has yet to be selected. Also, the government appointed committee tasked with choosing the site stands at just three members following the September municipal election when seven of its members were unseated.

reporter@thegeorgian.ca