Steve Hardaker
Community Correspondent

With only eight years remaining in the life of the existing south landfill in Niagara Falls, Walker Environmental Group is continuing with planning to develop the next phase of the dump.  

Located on top of the Niagara Escarpment overlooking Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Glendale neighbourhood, the phase 1 south landfill, which has been operating for more than 15 years, is reaching final capacity and must be phased out.

The new proposed south landfill phase 2 is located east of the existing dump across Taylor Road and south of Mountain Road. 

It is now a working limestone quarry for Walker’s aggregate operations but will close once the proposed new landfill is approved by Ontario’s environment ministry.

On June 28, Walker submitted terms of reference to the ministry for an environmental assessment.

The terms of reference are available at southlandfillphase2.com.  

The submission incorporates input from public consultations with area residents, government, Indigenous communities and other interested parties.

Walker project director Darren Fry noted this is the first step in the province’s comprehensive environmental assessment process.

“The terms of reference is “essentially a road map or framework for how Walker will conduct the subsequent environmental studies over the next few years,” Fry said in an email.

“Walker will begin conducting a wide range of studies ranging from surface water and groundwater, traffic, air quality, climate change, economic and visual to name a few.”

During this phase, Walker will host public meetings to gather feedback from the community, agencies and Indigenous peoples and incorporate it into the project, he said.

When all the technical studies are done, Walker will release a draft environmental assessment report for public review prior to any formal submission to the minister, he said.

“This is an important project for Niagara,” Fry said.

“It will continue to provide local waste disposal capacity, support over 500 jobs and increase the amount of renewable energy produced at Walker’s Resource Management Campus.” 

Despite increased recycling, landfills are still needed for items that can’t go in the blue, grey or green bin — and to accommodate future population growth.

Phase 2 will provide an additional 18 million cubic metres of landfill capacity over a 20-year period.

It will also supply renewable energy for the community by turning landfill gas into energy. This is in addition to the energy already being generated from the Phase 1 south landfill to heat more than 8,700 homes annually through the Enbridge Gas distribution system.

Walker’s landfill gas is now being supplied to the neighbouring General Motors propulsion plant in St. Catharines. That helps GM reduce its carbon footprint by about 70 per cent, making it one of GM’s cleanest propulsion plants.

Residents can review Walker’s plan and submit written comments directly to project officer Stephen Deneault at the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks’ environmental assessment branch, 135 St. Clair Ave. W., first floor, Toronto, Ontario M4V 1P5, by July 30. 

Online commenting is not available. The ministry will send copies of all comments to Walker.

Steve Hardaker has lived in Glendale for over 14 years and is active in a number of community organizations.