“Look, we all know that garbage happens… The City of Ottawa’s performance in this area frankly stinks.”
Carp Dump II has the passed the Environmental Compliance Application (ECA) and the so called “West Carleton Environmental Centre” is now all but certain.
Frankly, I am more than just a little surprised how little I’ve read about this inevitability.
When the first dump was opened in Carp the early 1970s, it was essentially for local use and it was in the middle of nowhere. Now, some forty years later, the new dump (which will be beside the old one) happens to be in the middle of growing suburbia, and for the use of all of Ontario.
We all know that garbage happens. What is necessary is a well laid plan that is environmentally sound and economically viable. The City of Ottawa’s performance in this area frankly stinks.
Plasco and Orgaworld were both whiffs of legendary proportion, and yet here we are continuing to move forward without a viable 30 year plan.
Operating without a plan continues to cost us money and will have a negative effect on some of our residents’ quality of life. It could also harm our environment, and it will devalue property.
I think we all know that landfills are not the answer. It’s the way of a bygone era. No one wants them except the companies that make a fortune operating them.
Yet, despite lingering complaints about the first dump, the City of Ottawa is on the verge of adding two more landfill sites. We already have four!
That’s not very green for a supposedly very green city.
Landfills are not the way of the future, but unfortunately, it seems to be the way of our city.
Moving forward, transparency is a must, and clearly our neighbours should all be entitled to live in an environment that is clean, safe and healthy.
Jonathan Mark
Dunrobin, Ontario
(Jonathan Mark is a broadcaster, Chair for the Ward 5 Citizens’ Council (W5CC), and a candidate for West Carleton Ward in the last municipal election.)