The Rural Voice, 1982-03, Page 18RURAL NEWS IN BRIEF
Society is responsible for its own wastes: Chant
"I want to make it clear at the outset
that no decision has been made on ANY
site for a waste disposal plant anywhere in
Ontario."
These were the words of Dr. Donald
Chant, chairman of the Ontario Liquid
Waste Disposal Corporation, when he
addressed some 250 anxious Huron
county federation members in Ashfield
Township recently.
Chant, widely respected for his direct-
ness and honesty, went on to explain
procedures developed by his board of
directors to find suitable site.
He told his audience that consultants
are now scouring Ontario for suitable
sites, hydrologically acceptable for waste
plants.
The previous government plan. when
Dr. Harry Parrot was environment -
minister, to have one large waste plant for
all of Ontario. has been dropped. While
still an option, it is more likely that a
number of smaller plants will be
established, each as close to the
manufacturing site as possible.
The mandate of the corporation is not
just to dispose of liquid waste, but also to
monitor its manufacture; to visit plants
with the aim of recycling chemicals to
other manufacturers; to help with dimin
ishing production; to help set up systems
to neutralize waste an site before offering
it to the corporation for disposal.
If, for instance a company in the Ottawa
area has a large amount of water based
chemicals to get rid off, a de -watering site
might be built nearby, so the residue could
be transported over longer distances in a
safer manner.
Chant promised that not only modern
European disposal methods will be
studied, but that the newest technology
available will be incorporated in all plant
designs, so that the Ontario system will be
a model for the world.
But he stopped short of radio -active
waste disposal. He promised not to deal
with that at all.
The chairman said he didn't want a
large bureaucracy and planned to have
only a small staff. Most of the work will be
farmed out to consultants.
He said the rejection of the Cayuga site
in Norfolk-Haldimand was largely due to
input from local people. They knew where
there were old gas wells, and they knew
from experience which part of the selected
site was periodically flooded.
When. in addition. a backhoe from the
consultants hit a pocket of gravel, the
coup -de -grace to the selection was de-
livered. for gravel sites are permeable.
The consulting firm of Proctor &
Redfern is now actively seeking out where
the waste is. Strangely enough, that is not
documented. The estimates were that
sixty million gallons /to toxic waste is
produced in Ontario, but the latest
estimate is closer to eighty million gallons
annually. Chant wants to know how much
and where it is. Then it can be monitored.
Chant expects to charge the users of the
waste plant, but he intends that the capital
cost be borne by the Ontario taxpayer.
He reasoned that since all of Ontario
uses manufactured products, all should
help dispose of it.
One point that distressed farmers at the
meeting was Chant's statement that any
site will be most likely on prime
agricultural land, or land suitable for it.
Because of the need to keep tran-
sportation lines as short as possible, most
will almost certainly be in the south.
But before selecting any site, the
people near the site will be informed and
asked to provide local knowledge before
any decision is made.
The present system is wide open to
abuse, he said, and while the large
companies appear to deal responsibly with
their toxic waste. storing it safely, many of
the smaller manufacturers can't afford
facilities. Undoubtedly some goes down
municipal drains, and some goes through
storm sewers. Some is dumped in a lonely
spot at midnight; and some is sent to the
USA for disposal or storage.
Chant called all of the above un-
acceptable.He said that a society must be
responsible for its own wastes. We don't
want waste from the US or Manitoba. and
we must not ask them to clean up ours.
\
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PG. 16 THE RURAL VOICE/MARCH 1982