By John Devine
Special to Ontario Construction News
Simcoe County’s plan to build three new transfer stations to accommodate a shift from weekly to bi-weekly waste collection will cost over $6.2 million. Design costs for the three stations is estimated to come in at $185,000. It’s anticipated each station will cost $2 million to construct.
The stations are required, according to the County, because vehicles collecting waste on a bi-weekly basis will have double the load of trucks collecting weekly and will therefore have to empty more than once a day. Trucks on the weekly schedule can run the entire day before being emptied.
The trucks reach capacity part way through the day and will need to empty at a transfer station and then return to the route to complete collections. Since the county is geographically large, using one central transfer station … would cause significant off-route time, increasing costs for collections and possibly increasing the likelihood of the route not being completed. Organics collection will remain on a weekly basis.
“Our plans to introduce new transfer centres at current County waste management facilities also has the environment, as well as long-term cost savings in mind, as we look to reduce the number of trucks needed on the road each day, limit the kilometres these trucks have to travel to unload materials, and manage these services internally to avoid rising contractual costs,” said Rob McCullough, Director of Solid Waste Management.
Currently, the County pays a private contractor to provide transfer services for curb-side collection. Creating its own infrastructure, the three transfer stations, and the planned Environmental Resource Recovery Centre (ERRC), will allow the County to provide collection services more cost-effectively and efficiently.
The design money would be transferred from the County’s solid waste reserve budget. The $2 million estimate to build each station will be refined through the design and procurement process, and would need to be reviewed/considered by council in the 2021 capital budget before any decisions are made.
The County’s plan to build the ERRC, the central transfer station, on Horseshoe Valley Road is the subject of a land use planning process. The County’s Official Plan amendment to construct the facility was approved by the Province in January 2019. This approval has been appealed and is now going through due process.
According to the County, the ERRC is not a landfill. Rather, it’s envisioned to be a facility to process organics locally, and manage the transfer of garbage and recycling, showcasing the County’s commitment to diversion and reducing waste disposal. It has two main components: an organics processing area, and a material management (transfer centre) area.
The ERRC is the future of waste management, according to the County. “It will allow us to securely manage our own waste, control transfer and processing costs, and provide greater flexibility to adjust our programs to divert more organics from our garbage stream.”
The County describes organics processing as a closed-loop, circular-economy solution where organics (green bin material and potentially materials such as leaf and yard waste, pet waste, and diapers) are processed and converted into resources such as compost or fertilizer. Further anticipated benefits are:
- allows for acceptance of more materials into the green bin program
- reduces emissions from hauling organics outside the County for processing
- offers flexibility to respond to population growth and more green bin tonnage
- production of valuable end products such as compost or fertilizer
- helps the County to adapt to provincial legislation
The materials management location (transfer centre) is where waste from multiple collection vehicles is consolidated and transferred. This allows for cost-effective shipment to other processing/disposal locations. Benefits include:
- better waste management
- savings over contracted transfer costs
- provides operational efficiencies and centralized management
Other services that could be offered include a service facility for County waste vehicles, a public education centre, recycling transfer and sorting area, and an administration area.
“The County continues to look for innovative and environmentally responsible ways to enhance our solid waste management services. As our landfills reach capacity and the cost to secure processing and haulage services increase, we are thinking long term to ensure we’re mitigating costs and doing the right thing for our communities and residents,” said McCullough.
“Our recent change to bi-weekly collection (Feb. 3) of some materials will hopefully encourage residents to use their green bins more frequently and as our organic tonnage increases the need to have local processing will increase, making the organics processing component of the ERRC project a vital part of our long term strategy.”
Full details on the Environmental Resource Recovery Centre can be found at: www.simcoe.ca/errc.
[…] Simcoe County’s plan to build three new transfer stations to accommodate a shift from weekly to bi-weekly waste collection will cost over $6.2 million. Design costs for the three stations is estimated to come in at $185,000. It’s anticipated each station will cost $2 million to construct.The stations are required, according to the County, because vehicles collecting waste on a bi-weekly basis will have double the load of trucks collecting weekly and will therefore have to empty more than once a day. Trucks on the weekly schedule can run the entire day before being emptied.The trucks reach capacity part way through the day and will need to empty at a transfer station and then return to the route to complete collections. Since the county is geographically large, using one central transfer station … would cause significant off-route time, increasing costs for collections and possibly increasing the likelihood of the route not being completed. Organics collection will remain on a weekly basis.“Our plans to introduce new transfer centres at current County waste management facilities also has the environment, as well as long-term cost savings in mind, as we look to reduce the number of trucks needed on the road each day, limit the kilometres these trucks have to travel to unload materials, and manage these services internally to avoid rising contractual costs,” said Rob McCullough, Director of Solid Waste Management.Currently, the County pays a private contractor to provide transfer services for curb-side collection. Creating its own infrastructure, the three transfer stations, and the planned Environmental Resource Recovery Centre (ERRC), will allow the County to provide collection services more cost-effectively and efficiently.For more on this, click here. […]