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Solid Waste Management EA

Solid Waste Management EA FINAL Report

Solid Waste Management Planning

In September of 2000 the City set out to develop a comprehensive waste management plan to guide the management of municipal solid waste over the next 25 to 40 years. The study was largely initiated to address the City's low waste diversion rate and the diminishing waste disposal capacity at the City landfill on Fifth Line.

A series of studies were undertaken to assess existing waste management programs/services and identify potential system enhancements. Some of the key reports that were produced through these planning initiatives are described below and the full text is accessible by selecting the link.

Current Waste Management System Summary Report (September, 2000) - Inventoried and summarized current (i.e. 1999) waste management programs including costs and revenues.

Alternative Waste Diversion/Collection Systems Report (June, 2001) - Identified alternative waste diversion programs and the quantities that could potentially be diverted.

Business and Implementation Plan (February, 2003) - Identified costs of the existing and proposed waste management programs and explored strategies to recover those costs (bag limits, bag fees, increased tipping and gate fees).

The City recognized the importance of focusing their initial efforts to enhance 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) through system enhancements and more equitable user fee structures.

Congratulations Sault Ste. Marie! Thanks to your response and participation, the residential waste diversion rate has increased from 9% in 1999 to 35% in recent years.

The City plans to continue to promote and explore 3Rs programs to further reduce the quantity of waste disposed. It is however recognized that some residual waste will continue to be generated for the foreseeable future that will require disposal.

Solid Waste Management Environmental Assessment (EA)

The EA process is a transparent decision-making process used to promote good environmental planning by assessing potential effects of certain activities or projects on the natural and human environment. There are a series of steps to be completed that follow a natural progression. These steps are shown in the EA Flowchart. We are currently in Phase 3 of the process and the work completed to-date is summarized in the following subsections.

Environmental Assessment Terms of Reference (ToR)

In 2005 the City submitted and obtained approval of its Solid Waste Management Plan Environmental Assessment Terms of Reference (July, 2005). The purpose of the Terms of Reference is to set the scope and describe the process that will be undertaken to address the problem of diminishing disposal capacity at the existing landfill.

'Alternatives To' the Undertaking

The Environmental Assessment was initiated in 2006 and governmental, public, stakeholder and Aboriginal input was obtained on functionally different ways of managing municipal solid waste through the summer and fall of 2007. In the summer of 2010 the City reached an important milestone in its Environmental Assessment process. The preferred waste management alternative for the City was identified as increased 3Rs and landfilling of the residual waste.

The first steps in the Environmental Assessment process are documented in the reports below.

Solid Waste Management Environmental Assessment - Waste Quantity Projections and Existing Environment Profile - Waste quantity projections are developed for the 40 year planning period and the existing study area environment is described.

Solid Waste Management Environmental Assessment - Alternatives to the Undertaking - Identifies and evaluates functionally different ways of managing waste.

In 2010 the City has committed to supply a portion of its municipal solid waste for processing in Elementa's privately owned and operated steam reformation (i.e. energy-from-waste) plant. There were a number of delays and amendments to the timelines in the agreement between the City and Elementa. The Elementa Group entered into receivership proceedings, and consequently were not able to fulfill the requirements of the agreement. These events do not impact the City's EA as it was completed under the assumption that all waste would require management through the solutions contemplated within the EA.

Alternative Methods - Step 1 (Landfill Expansion versus Development of a New Site)

The City remains committed to investigating, implementing and supporting programs to increase waste diversion through 3Rs initiatives. Since the implementation of 3Rs initiatives does not require Environmental Assessment (EA) Act approval, the EA study focused on alternative methods of landfilling residual waste. The key objective of this phase of the study is to find an environmentally suitable location and design for additional landfill capacity. This task was undertaken using a two-step process.

The first step consisted of completing a non site-specific evaluation of developing a new landfill versus expanding an existing landfill. This step provided initial focus to the search for additional landfill capacity and was completed in the summer of 2011. Based on the results of the evaluation and input received from Government agencies, stakeholders, Aboriginal communities and the general public it was concluded that it is preferred to initially focus resources on developing a strategy to expand an existing landfill rather than searching for a new Greenfield site.

You are encouraged to view the Solid Waste Management Environmental Assessment - Alternative Methods - Step 1 (Landfill Expansion versus Development of a New Site) report for more information on the evaluation and the public consultation process.

Alternative Methods - Step 2 (Identification and Comparison of Expansion Options)

Step 2 of the Alternatives Methods evaluation considered options to expand the City's existing landfill site. Expansion options were developed that make the best use of the existing site characteristics and the area available to expand. In general, the options considered included horizontal expansion (expand the extent of the disposal footprint), vertical expansion (increase the height of the disposal footprint), landfill mining (excavate existing disposed waste and cover material, recover earthen material or 'fines' and return the waste to the disposal footprint) and a combination of these methodologies.


Refer to the plan of the preliminary preferred expansion.

You are encouraged to view the Solid Waste Management Environmental Assessment - Alternative Methods - Step 2 (Identification and Comparison of Expansion Options) report for more information on the evaluation and the public consultation process.

Impact Assessment for the Preferred Expansion Option (ie. West and North Expansion B) and Environmental Assessment Reporting

The focus of this phase of the work plan was to prepare an Impact Assessment for the preferred expansion strategy and prepare a comprehensive Environmental Assessment (EA) Report using the previously prepared interim reports together with reporting prepared through this phase of the project.

The specific tasks and activities undertaken in this phase are summarized in the Solid Waste Management Environmental Assessment - Impact Assessment and Environmental Assessment Reporting Work Plan.


The impact assessment included broad expertise in a number of distinct disciplines including:

• Biology (terrestrial and aquatic)
• Geotechnical
• Groundwater
• Atmospheric (acoustic and air quality)
• Surface water
• Socio-economic
• Visual
• Traffic
• Archaeological/Cultural
• Planned land use.