Sludge Watch ==> London Ontario officials turn up noses at Toronto's stranded sludge

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

London Free Press, Ontario, Canada


Toronto sludge not welcome

Fri, June 9, 2006

London officials turn up their noses at the idea of taking Toronto's 
stranded sludge.

By JOE BELANGER, London Ontario  FREE PRESS CITY HALL REPORTER



With Michigan now refusing to take its sewage sludge, Toronto would face a 
fight if it tries to dump the stuff in London, city officials warn.

As of Aug. 1, the Michigan landfill where Toronto sends about 900,000 tonnes 
of garbage a year no longer will take its treated sewage sludge.

And with no landfill of its own to take the leftovers from its sewage 
treatment process, that means Toronto could be left scrambling to find 
another landfill to get rid of the sludge.

"I can't speak on behalf of city council, but if they were opposed to 
Toronto's garbage, they'll be even more opposed to the sludge," said Jay 
Stanford, London's manager of environmental services.

"Sludge smells, that's the big thing. But it's also very difficult to handle 
at the landfill."

The threat of Toronto garbage being dumped elsewhere in Ontario was a 
reality several Southwestern Ontario centres faced until the mega-city lined 
up Michigan to take it.

But Toronto will have to look elsewhere to dispose of its sludge, Mayor Anne 
Marie DeCicco said.

"Once you open the door and you collect a little bit of anything, you open 
the door to a lot more of everything," she said.

Even if London wanted to take Toronto's sludge, it can't. Stanford said the 
city's certificate of approval doesn't allow London to take garbage from 
outside the city, unless ordered by the province -- an option not yet 
mentioned.

The Carleton Farms facility, about 50 kilometres west of Detroit, announced 
last week it won't accept Toronto's 160,000 tonnes a year of sludge after 
complaints from residents about the stench.

Carleton officials said the decision was not related to ongoing efforts in 
Michigan to ban Toronto's daily dumping of about 95 trucks of trash and 
sludge.

The site will continue to take Toronto's 700,000 tonnes of trash each year.

Lou Di Gironimo, Toronto's general manager of water, said staff are still 
exploring "all options."

That could include a private landfill in the province, or one at a U.S. 
landfill.

"We haven't heard back from anybody we've talked to yet and we're still just 
exploring all our contingency options," said Di Gironimo.

Bob McCaig, owner of Green Lane Environmental in St. Thomas, said he hasn't 
been contacted to take Toronto sludge.

"We haven't been approached and we don't expect to be," McCaig said.

Sludge is treated sewage transformed into a gooey brown substance.

Stanford said most London sludge is burned at its pollution control plant, 
except for four to six weeks each fall, when the incinerator at the Greenway 
plant is cleaned and the sludge is buried at the city's landfill.

"We've got experience handling it, so we know how troublesome it is," 
Stanford said.