During reading week, the City of Peterborough and its consultant Cambium Environmental Inc. hosted hosted two public information meetings regarding the management of the City’s waste over the next twenty years.
The Peterborough Waste Management Master Plan (PWMMP) will take another ten months to complete and may have a significant effect on taxpayer dollars. The information meetings were held to allow public input into the creation of the plan through the completion of a survey. The meetings, held at the Peterborough Public Library, attracted few members of the public.
PWMMP representatives noted that of the more than 75,000 residents in the City, only 20 attended the meetings - less than 0.001% of the population of Peterborough. Approximately 150 surveys have been completed to date, mainly online, but this is far short of the target set by representatives.
To date, the PWMMP has established a Guiding Principle, which reads as follows: “The Peterborough County/City Landfill Site is a valuable resource. The City of Peterborough needs to minimize residual waste and optimize the use of the City’s diversion and disposal facilities. The City of Peterborough needs to be a leader in sustainability and environmental stewardship.”
From there, three main goals have been identified: 1 – Maximize diversion (the amount of waste kept out of landfill through the use of recycling and composting programs); 2 – Minimize Generation (encourage residents to find ways of not producing the waste in the first place); and 3 – To have a fiscally responsible Waste Management System. Under each goal, a set of objectives have been compiled, which will serve as a means to achieving the three fundamental goals. Finally, measurable targets where identified, which will allow the City to measure their success.
The next stage of the WMMP study will be to flesh out the goals and objectives, to determine exactly how they will best be achieved. This is where your input is needed. Do you feel there needs to be more composting done? More recycling? Should incineration be considered? Or does diversion just cost too much money, and we should continue to throw garbage in a hole and bury it? Let your opinions be heard!
PWMMP representatives noted the importance of reduction and reuse, and that they were looking into methods of increasing these two “Forgotten R’s”, especially among students. For example, a program hosted at other universities in Ontario that allows students or recent graduates to give away their furniture to other students sparked interest.
City of Peterborough residents - especially students - are encouraged to read through the public presentation and to fill out the on-line survey. Input provided through the surveys will be taken into consideration when the City and Cambium Environmental Inc. formulate details for the Plan. See www.peterborough.ca/wmstudy.
