March 31, 2017 – Barbara Simpson, The Observer – A rural Lambton community is looking to capitalize on both its ties to the waste industry and Ontario’s push for a cleaner environment with a project that could create jobs and give a boost to the regional economy.
Officials with the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership and the Township of Warwick are eyeing the potential creation of a recycling and re-manufacturing hub beside the existing Twin Creeks landfill in Watford.
Marketing the area as a waste and recycling cluster could help attract commercial recycling and re-manufacturing facilities, as well as research, development and incubation operations for those industries, into the Warwick Industrial Park.
Such a move would not only benefit Warwick Township but all of Lambton County, said Matthew Slotwinski, development coordinator with the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership.
“The larger region within southwestern Ontario could also take advantage of this cluster for its future waste and recycling needs,” he added.
Officials have submitted a grant application to Ontario’s Rural Economic Development (RED) program for help funding a feasibility study.
Plans are to hire an industry expert to research opportunities and prepare a formal report, as well as develop a strategy and an implementation plan to help local officials target the recycling and re-manufacturing industries, Slotwinski said.
The project is expected to cost $40,000.
While growth opportunities in the recycling industry still need to be formally studied, Slotwinski said preliminary discussions with industry officials have indicated there are opportunities.
“While there are some small sectors within the recycling or re-manufacturing sector that may not be growing, there are other subsectors that are growing or have opportunity to grow in the future, especially as Ontario implements its Climate Change Action Plan,” Slotwinski said.
Opportunities may lie, for example, with Sarnia-Lambton’s growing bio-hybrid chemistry cluster and clean-tech initiatives, he noted.
Local officials started investigating the possibility of a waste and recycling cluster – what could be a first in Ontario – as part of an effort to diversify the largely manufacturing and agricultural industry in Warwick and Watford.
“What we were able to identify is some real key features that exist in Watford that really fit into Ontario’s plan moving forward,” Slotwinski said.
These assets include the Twin Creeks landfill whose expansion plans call for 1.4 million tonnes of waste to be accepted annually at the landfill, up from 750,000 tonnes.
The neighbouring Warwick Industrial Park was also identified as an asset, with 118 acres available for development and the existing Real-Flex Building available for occupancy.
Both the Twin Creeks landfill and Lambton College have provided letters of support for the project, Slotwinski said, and a still-to-be-established steering committee is expected to include members from both organizations.
“Our hope is that we’ll be able to start the project some time in June.”
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BY THE NUMBERS
Over $3 billion is contributed annually to the gross domestic product by Ontario’s waste management sector;
Over $1 billion is the annual estimated market value of wastes being landfilled;
12 million tonnes of waste are generated in Ontario annually;
25 per cent of that waste is diverted from landfills annually;
7 jobs are created for every 1,000 tonnes of waste recycled;
Less than 1 job is created from every 1,000 tonnes of waste sent to landfills.
Source: Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership presentation
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