Eco teams present to Kingsville Council on organic waste diversion

The EcoTeams from Leamington District Secondary School (LDSS) and Kingsville District High School (KDHS) partnered up for a presentation to Kingsville Council in the council chambers on May 24.

The teams made a Powerpoint presentation about the organic waste diversion plan and Kingsville Council’s decision not to join most of the other municipalities across the county.

Madeleine Huson and Sydnee Rutgers represented the EcoTeam from LDSS, while Adam Anderson and Kennedy Hardy joined from KDHS.

Kingsville had recently made the decision to not join the county’s organic waste diversion program and the students made the presentation to make their stance clear on where they believe the municipality should stand on the issue.

Kennedy Hardy, who is the Minister of the Environment for the past three years at KDHS, led the group as they took turns talking about the effect that waste diversion can have on climate change.

“After you listen to our presentation tonight, we hope you will reconsider your decision not to join our region’s organic waste diversion program,” she said.

Sydnee Rutgers then spoke about the effect that climate change is having on local beaches and waterfront areas.

“We’ve all felt the impacts of climate change. More regular flooding has meant that Kingsville residents who live on Heritage Road have been cut off from the rest of the community,” Sydnee said. “A warming climate has also led to more frequent toxic algal blooms in Lake Erie, which has closed local beaches.”

“We were so excited to hear that Kingsville had joined the rest of the municipalities in Essex County in declaring a climate emergency in November of 2019,” added Madeleine Huson. “We were also very encouraged when many of you participated in the Climate Action Summit our EcoTeam hosted, where we committed to working with our municipal leaders on collaborative climate action.”

According to Adam Anderson, it’s important for those who are composting to handle it properly.

“Evidence shows that about one-third of waste sent to the landfill is organic, where it releases methane, which is 86 times more potent a greenhouse gas compared to carbon dioxide over 20 years,” Adam said. “Composting may work for some Kingsville residents, but if it isn’t mixed regularly, it will release methane and can attract unwanted pests like rats and skunks.”

According to the EcoTeams, Ontario actually has a mandate in place to require all municipalities to divert some of their organic waste by 2025 to save landfill space and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Communities with a population over 20,000 and density over 100 people per square km are required to have an organic waste collection program by then as well.

“In 2021 our community had a population of 22,119 and density of 90 people/ km2, which is very close to the threshold, so we were surprised that Kingsville declined to join the plan,” said Kennedy.

Adam added that in Kingsville’s decision not to participate in the plan, they have promised to educate residents on food waste strategies, but he only sees that as a first step.

Madeleine then cited local examples of how organized waste is being turned into energy like that which is being done at Seacliff Energy in Leamington, and thinks that Kingsville should get ahead of the curve.

“Economies of scale would suggest that Kingsville should join the organic waste plan now rather than wait until it’s mandated in 2025, so we can share costs with all the other municipalities in Windsor-Essex,” she says.

The EcoTeams says that Windsor-Essex is far behind other regions when it comes to having a plan for organic waste collection and that the local waste authority was embarrassed to find out other regions are so far ahead in that regard.

“Our request to you tonight, respectfully, is to ask you to table a motion to reconsider joining our region’s organic waste collection program,” said Madeleine. “We would also like to offer to assist you with the delivery of the food waste reduction education program.”

Councillor Larry Patterson spoke to the teams about the program.

“This council is all behind that, but there is a cost — a cost that’s humongous,” he said. “Going forward, I’d like to see this keep moving forward. Please don’t get discouraged.”

“We’ve also asked the county to look at the dynamic of having optional tenders,” added Mayor Nelson Santos. “If the upper tier is looking to support its regional landfill, then they should take the entire responsibility for that regional contract.”

Mayor Santos pointed out that the issue was to be discussed later on the agenda.

“Please stay tuned with us,” he added.

Councillor Kimberly DeYong wanted to clarify to the students just where council stood on the issue.

“I think it’s important for you to understand that we didn’t vote against the regional program at all,” she said. “We voted against the structure of which they were proposing it.”

DeYong says there is no disagreement that it is an important initiative, but Kingsville’s administration recommended that the structure of the plan didn’t best suit the town’s taxpayers.

“We’ve actually asked our reps to push for them to keep it at the county level with respect to how they collect the dollars,” added Councillor DeYong. “This council actually does support the initiative.”

DeYong proposed that the EcoTeams sit down with the town’s manager of environmental services to come up with something local specific to Kingsville.

Councillor Thomas Neufeld talked about how proud he is of the students for coming forward and told those in attendance that Communities in Bloom Kingsville is working on programs to help with the organic waste situation and climate change.

“If this is the future, the future is bright,” he said. ”I want to thank you for doing your part.”

Councillor Laura Lucier urged the students to keep pressuring their elected officials to let them know that the environment is their number one concern.

“This council has not recognized environment concerns as one of their priorities,” she said. “I’m very hopeful that after the next election, the people sitting at this table will make that a priority.”

Councillor Lucier agreed with Councillor DeYong about the fact that council wants to be part of the solution, as long as it’s a good decision.

Councillor Tony Gaffan also agreed, saying, “I am that guy that composts.”