June 26, 2018 – Tyler Kula, The Sarnia Observer, Warwick Township could be positioning itself as a hub for recycling and repurposing waste products.
The Lambton County municipality recently received the results of a $40,000 feasibility study by Delphi Group and Reclay StewardEdge looking into using part of Warwick’s 40-acre business park for recycling agricultural and petrochemical waste, recycling or destroying electronic goods, and/or refurbishing home furnishings.
The study also looks at the possibility of organic waste processing – including via anaerobic digestion at the mostly vacant business park – and at research and development opportunities for plastics recycling.
With the park right next to the Twin Creeks Landfill site, plus a recent provincial push to make Ontario waste free, there’s good opportunity for Warwick to capitalize, said Matthew Slotwinski, business development consultant with the Sarnia Lambton Economic Partnership – which worked with Warwick on the idea.
“We were able to take a little bit of a different approach, based on a real opportunity that was identified given those strengths,” he said, noting the Twin Creeks site is one of the largest landfills in the province.
Goals identified in the study include making the industrial park a leading hub in Canada for waste-reduction “circular economy” activities by 2023, and establishing new markets over the next one-to-two years for waste and resources from local industries.
“The concept of the circular economy cluster is coming at the perfect time,” Slotwinski said. “Because as this cluster starts from its infancy and it starts to grow and hopefully pick up steam over the next one, three, five years, the concept of the circular economy both within Ontario and Canada will continue to grow as well.”
But nothing is happening for sure yet, said Amanda Gubbels, the township’s administrator and clerk.
Council has made no decisions since the document came down in May, she said.
“The next step will be to look at the study, determine where we want to go, which recommendations we’d like, and then do an analysis of how much they’d cost in an implementation plan,” she said.
A provincial government grant covered half the cost of the study, she said, noting about 15 acres on the business park are already home to other unrelated businesses.
“They wouldn’t be negatively affected by the plan,” she said.
Other municipalities like the City of London have also been positioning to become hubs for processing organic waste as Ontario moves to reduce waste, she said.
“For us, given our position, this is just a strategic economic development opportunity.”
tkula@postmedia.com