Former chair says waste facility needed now

March 18, 2009

MIRAMICHI - The former chair of the Northumberland Solid Waste Commission says he is concerned that the region still does not have a solid waste facility.

When Dean Allison stepped down as chair of the Northumberland Solid Waste Commission board in February he thought it would help move things forward toward a a facility for sorting waste.

After almost nine years on the board, Allison said he thought issues with the government at the time were holding things back.

"I felt there was a conflict of interest between myself and the minister of the environment of the time."

Since then, the commission board issued a request for proposals in January and rejected the only tender they received because they said it did not outline the cost to design, build and operate the facility.

Allison said Environment Minister Roland Hache wanted meetings held on the North Shore and hired a consultant with the goal of reviewing the conditions in that region to see where it would be feasible to build a solid waste facility.

At the time there was mention of provincial money available for a new regional facility if all the groups cooperated, he said.

"At the same time we're making application for $4 million to the capital borrowing board. This commission was ready to fund our own facility."

For about three years the board worked on a plan for a new facility and looked at the amount of garbage going to the Red Pine landfill, he said.

Soon after his departure from the board, the province committed $1 million toward construction of a new facility as part of their Climate Action Fund.

Those funds were tied to measurable greenhouse gas emission limits and composting at the new facility, which the commission said was too expensive so they declined the money.

Allison said the government wanted roadside composting, while the board wanted to promote backyard composting.

"Part of the nature of the diversion was composting."

The commission looked at partnering with private industry to do the composting because there isn't enough organic waste in the region and it would be too expensive for the commission to do it themselves, he said.

"You need quantity to make it a viable industry."

Allison said the commission has always been frugal about managing garbage collection.

"Everything with the commission is dollar based."

When the board first rejected the one proposal they received they would only say that it did not meet their requirements and did not provide information about the next step in the plan to build a new facility or why they refused the government funding.

Allison was surprised the board was not providing information about their decisions and said they should give it to anyone who asks.

"The board is only the figurehead for the community that they represent."

Although the board kept financial information about companies involved in the solid waste collection process private, the community has a right to know about the commission's decisions, he said.

"Everything is basically open book back to the community."

Allison said he would like to see the project move forward for the sake of the environment.

"As a taxpayer and a member of Northumberland County it's disconcerting that this project hasn't moved."

He wanted to break ground on the new facility two years ago, he said.

"I just wanted to build this thing and worry about the politics later."

Allison said geographic rivalries weren't an issue on the board and they all agreed they should build the facility in the Miramichi.

"Everybody supported the fact the best place for it was the centre of generation."

Trucking garbage

But the delays have lead to unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and extra trucking costs as garbage goes from the different communities to the landfill, he said.

"We're the only commission in the province that's direct hauling garbage from the doors to Red Pine."

Allison said after he stepped down from the board he attended meetings until around the middle of May and the process was still slow at that time.

"It wasn't moving as fast as it should." The hard part was to convince the communities because of the high costs up-front to build the facility, he said.

"In your overall contracting you're going to be saving money."

Allison said the garbage would have been sorted at the material recovery facility once it arrived there, but he didn't know how they planned on collecting it.

"The method of collection wasn't decided when I left."

The board's objective was to do what was best for the environment and reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill, not to run a facility that would make money, he said.

"We never looked at the recycling facility here in the Miramichi as being self-sufficient, cost effective."

Allison said there was a hope they could make the Miramichi the centre of recycling for the Maritimes and attract industry to the area because there wasn't enough waste to make money otherwise.

"Pie in the sky. You've gotta dream big."

Environment Department spokesman Mark Boldon said there have always been discussions around a sorting facility in northeastern New Brunswick.

"There's been nothing settled on that topic."

There have been consultant reports issued on that subject in the past, but no decisions were ever made, he said.

"What we've encouraged is that the four commissions get together and talk about how they could better serve that northern area through the management of recycling."

But Boldon said the Environment Department hasn't committed any money to the building of a regional facility for northeastern New Brunswick.

"We're just the Department of Environment here and I would suspect there's lots of federal or provincial or municipal funding opportunities that commissions could look at that we may not be aware of."