With the Dufferin County “super dump” seemingly dead, and Michigan

threatening to ban the importing of garbage from Ontario, how long will our local politicians continue burying their heads in non-existent landfill sites, apparently in the vain hope that waste-management problems will either go away or someone else will solve them?

Within Dufferin, four municipalities — Amaranth, Melancthon, Mono and Mulmur — might feel comfortable with their “unused capacity” in existing landfill sites. But it’s debatable whether the capacity is a fact or a fantasy.

In terms of regulations in effect at the time the four dumps were licensed, the capacity is “a fact.” But in terms of new regulations, it might well be “a fantasy.”

Readers will recall that Shelburne thought it had a dump with remaining capacity several years ago. Then someone at the Ministry of Environment discovered that the dump had been extended beyond the licensed area. Now the town has no place for its wastes, which are being shipped to Michigan.

Mono, as another example, had to purchase additional land a few years back to “contain” a leachate plume within its own property.

And during the 10-year, $1-million-plus study into a county landfill site, Mulmur’s then-reeve, Isabel Ireland, told the committee that her township’s dump could easily be shut down by the MOE. Her reason? The porous nature of the soil on which the landfill sits.

My point is that the ministry has issued Certificates of Approval in years past based on “the best technology” at the time of licensing. Those same certificates would not be issued today because those dumps simply do not meet today’s engineering standards.

The fear shared by some politicians is that if Michigan’s borders were to close on, say, 90 days’ notice, the province would be faced with the need to create new landfill sites overnight. There would not be time to undertake the kind of studies now required, or to build facilities that could handle the entire waste stream without a need for new landfill sites.

Should that be the case, would we see our air and water polluted further because dumps would be created that should not be created? There would be no choice but to dig holes in which to bury the garbage, albeit with inadequate consideration for the consequences.

Delaying decisive action on garbage disposal would be tantamount to waiting for a fire to break out before insuring the house.

Several things need to happen without delay. In Dufferin, county council must be given immediate authority to manage the waste stream. This must include a county takeover of all existing dumps. Then the council must immediately adopt a proposal that’s before it for creation of a facility to recycle 100 per cent of the garbage.

In the interim, all the county’s garbage would be disposed of within the county, likely at a saving to taxpayers. When it comes time to close and rehabilitate the dumps, it would be the county generally — and not taxpayers of individual municipalities — that would foot the bill.

Those things MUST happen. But it’s a safe bet that they WILL NOT happen.

Why? It has been several years since the county officially abandoned its landfill undertaking, after having spent more than 10 years and better than a million dollars in the study. Abandonment was based in part on county council’s resolve to find alternatives to burying the garbage, and to advance — as Amaranth mayor Bob Currie described it — “beyond the methods of the ancient Egyptians.” But we still have a mindset on “digging a hole and dumping the garbage in.”

In the intervening years, there have been requests for proposals on composting, and even a preference for the Herhof system in place at Caledon, but little in the way of accomplishments.

Waste management isn’t the only way in which local councils appear to have abandoned good sense. Consider, for example, the narrowing of Orangeville’s main drag by erecting massive curbs in the middle of the street.

Many persons I’ve talked to have said that it would be more appropriate to have Orange Lawrence’s statue depicting his rolling in the grave rather than standing upright.

Orangeville at one time could take pride in the broadness of its Broadway.

Because I’ve been involved with the Royal Canadian Legion’s hospital equipment, I have occasion to talk to users of wheelchairs and motorized scooters. More than one of those has asked me if I can understand in what manner Broadway’s median will be handicap-accessible. I cannot.

Yes, there are ramps to allow access. But the seniors and others who use the equipment have to find a way of getting to the ramps through traffic, and then they have to mount the ramps — neither of which would be an enviable task. One senior asked me if I’d be comfortable descending the ramps astride a heavy motorized scooter. I had to agree that I might not be.