From sludge to steaming sludge

While Vancouver never stopped dumping partially-treated waste along its shoreline, Toronto may soon have to start doing the same into Lake Ontario:

City lawyers appeared in Ontario Superior Court yesterday seeking an injunction to compel Republic Services to continue processing Toronto's sludge for the next 90 days. The company stopped handling the treated human waste at Carleton Farms, a Detroit-area landfill, on Aug. 1.

While a pair of contracts signed last week will divert half of the 160,000 tonnes of sludge produced by the city annually to new sites, lawyer Frank Newbould said the city could still be facing a crisis if Republic does not reopen its gates.

"There is no guarantee the city will be successful in signing additional contracts," Mr. Newbould said. "The only alternative is to dump it into Lake Ontario or put it on the land near Ashbridge's Bay [water-treatment centre]."

Under the deals signed last week, the city will send 50,000 tonnes this year to GSI Environment Inc. and 20,000 tonnes to Ferti-val Inc. Mayor David Miller and Shelley Carroll, the works committee chairwoman, have both told reporters that those deals bought Toronto six months to find a home for its remaining sludge...

He argued the city is attempting to save itself at the expense of Michigan, adding it would be politically unwise for a Canadian court to order waste be shipped to the United States.

"What [Mr. Newbould] is asking you to do is foist this environmental disaster on Michigan instead of Toronto," Mr. Rickett said.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality ordered Republic to stop accepting sludge at Carleton Farms following numerous complaints. Toronto argues the material should now be sent to Brent Run, another landfill operated by Republic in Michigan.

While one has to hope for Toronto to at least win an injunction to have its current contract carried out, the case nicely illustrates the dangers in allowing waste management and other key services to fall far beyond the reach of Canadian authorities who have an incentive to ensure a balance of interests. Hopefully Toronto and other Canadian municipalities will take the current precarious situation as a wake-up call, and start working to develop management solutions on their own rather than putting themselves at the mercy of contractors and foreign regulators.

Update: Toronto has lost its case in the Ontario Superior Court. Which should only strengthen the possible lessons if the city is willing to learn.