Trash towers? What’s next for city hall’s to-the-skies landfill expansion plan

Landfill? More like landfull. London city hall’s push to expand its south-end dump before it runs out of space next year is one step closer to final approval, pending a final round of public input. Our Jennifer Bieman has a primer on what’s happening next in the plan to pile trash higher at the W12A landfill.

Ontario’s environment ministry has finished its review of London city hall’s plan to expand its landfill on Manning Drive and is giving the public one last chance to weigh in.

The five-week public comment period, which launched late last month, closes at 5 pm on July 28. Following the feedback gathering, the province is expected to return with a final decision on the expansion plan in the fall.

City hall’s proposal to extend the lifespan of the landfill beyond 2024 involves piling trash up, not spreading it out over a larger area. The plan would increase the maximum height of the dump pile by 25 meters from its current 10- to 12-metre average, eventually creating a topsoil-covered heap nearly 12-storeys tall.

The plan would add about 13.8 million cubic meters – enough to fill about 5,500 Olympic-size swimming pools – of extra space to stash trash.

City hall’s citizen-led environmental stewardship advisory committee will be discussing the province’s public consultation on the landfill expansion at its meeting on Wednesday.

The 142-hectare landfill was built in the 1970s in the former Westminster Township but became part of London during a massive land annexation in the early 1990s. An assessment that began in 2017 determined piling trash up, not out, was the best option for the aging landfill.

The city completed a lengthy environmental assessment of the site from fall 2019 to the spring of 2021. City hall then put the landfill expansion environmental assessment to the province in February 2022.

The environment ministry wrapped up its review of the plan last month and is now seeking public feedback.

City hall’s environment boss Jay Stanford said moving to this final stage with the province is “very good news” and suggests local officials have met the Environmental Assessment Act requirements in the expansion application.

“After comments are reviewed by the province, provincial staff complete their work and issue terms and conditions as part of its approval,” Stanford said in an email Monday.

Final design and operating plans for the dump expansion are underway but can’t be finalized until the province delivers its final comments, Stanford said. The plan is to increase the height of the landfill in stages, beginning at the west side, he said.

“To support our community, it is essential that we double our landfill capacity,” said Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman, also chair of council’s civic works committee, which has been stick-handling the landfill revamp.

“It’s good to see this public input moving forward.”

To get provincial approval for the landfill expansion, city hall had to show it had a clear strategy to divert at least 60 per cent of the waste that would be otherwise destined for the dump. That’s where the green bin program comes in.

Curbside pick-up for compostable household scraps, which is expected to launch in the city this winter, will divert up to 20,000 tons of waste annually from W12A.

Council in April approved a $3.4-million contract to supply more than 120,000 45-litre green bins and 130,500 seven-litre kitchen containers to households in the city. City hall has also ordered 29 trucks to run the program.

The province’s review of London city hall’s environmental assessment is available online by clicking here. Written comments on the environmental assessment or ministry review can be sent to project officer Devon Wills at [email protected] by the July 28 deadline.

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