While county council awaits the outcome of the bid process for the next waste collection contract, preparations are underway to make sure the current waste transfer stations in the County of Simcoe are ready for extra garbage, recycling and organics.
County’s committee of the whole supported $185,000 in funding to design upgrades for three transfer stations to accommodate higher volumes from the new bi-weekly collection schedule.
A transfer station is a large building where small trucks unload the garbage, organics, or recycling they have collected, and large trucks pick it up and take it to a landfill. In Simcoe County’s case, garbage is taken to the Niagara Region.
Rob McCullogh, director of solid waste management for the county, said the trucks will fill up twice as fast, so the need for transfer stations will be much greater under the new waste collection contract.
The new waste transfer stations would have to be built and operational by November 2021, which is the start date for the county’s new waste collection contract.
Approval of the design funds by county council next month will enable county staff to prepare the applications required by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks in anticipation for construction of the transfer station upgrades in 2021.
“We need to have those facilities up and running by the start of that new contract,” said McCullogh.
Currently, the waste transfer station being used for county waste is run by contractor Waste Connections, which comes at a “significant expense” to the county, said McCullough.
“We feel we can do it more cost-effectively,” he said
The new buildings will include several large access doors on the front for curbside collection trucks to unload, a large access door on each side of the building to load tractor-trailers and three bunkers inside to separate garbage, organics and recycling. Building design will include any necessary fire suppression systems, ventilation, grading and drainage systems.
At Tuesday’s (Jan. 28) committee of the whole meeting, county councillors voted to approve funding for county staff to start the design process to upgrade three transfer facilities, in support of bi-weekly collection. The three stations would be built at the North Simcoe Transfer Station (Tiny), Nottawasaga Landfill (Stayner), and Bradford Transfer Station.
The Environmental Resource Recovery Centre (ERRC), planned to be built on Horseshoe Valley Road, has also been identified as a future waste-transfer site.
The committee decision will still go before county council for a final vote on Feb. 11.
