Ontario is on the brink of a major waste management crisis. A new report reveals that the province has less than a decade of remaining landfill capacity, prompting urgent action from rural municipalities

Ontario has a garbage problem.

As Ontario’s population grows and more homes are built, rural municipalities like those in Almaguin and Parry Sound are grappling with how to manage increasing amounts of garbage while extending the life of their landfills

The province has less than a decade of remaining disposal capacity at existing landfills, and a consistent trend of producing more garbage, according to the 2023 Ontario Baseline Waste and Recycling report from the Association of Ontario Municipalities.

In the Almaguin and West Parry Sound region, there are 10 landfills and many transfer stations where residents can bring garbage to be stored and then sent to a landfill. The Archipelago, Armour, Magnetawan, McDougall, Machar, Powassan, Restoule, Seguin, Strong, and Whitestone all have landfills. A combination landfill and transfer site serves Wasauksing First Nation.

Two landfills serve Strong, Sundridge and Joly. The main landfill on Forest Lake Road has a remaining life of about 39 years, and the second site on Muskoka Road has 33 years to go, according to a recent landfill capacity study.

“Strong Township has had a number of diversion programs for years, which have really helped our capacity life,” said clerk-administrator Caitlin Haggart. “Our landfill site Number 1 has had a recycling program before recycling was even widely seen. Our original development operation plan had our closure date projected to be in 2006, and we have far exceeded that, and clearly still have quite a long life left.”

The township encourages diversion through recycling, a reuse centre, an electronic waste program, recycling for batteries and light bulbs, and it has partnered with the local Lions Club for beer and wine containers. They have a brush program and sort out freon and scrap metal.

“We have a separate area for wood and shingles, and we grind them up annually to use as cover for our landfill site,” said Haggart.

The Tri-Communal Landfill, on Chetwynd Road, serves Armour Township, Ryerson Township, and the Village of Burks Falls, with Armour Township operating the site under a shared services agreement.

“In 2010, the landfill reached capacity. Emergency approvals extended its use until a formal expansion was approved in 2017,” said Amy Tilley, waste management administrator for the Township of Armour. “Through remediation, mining, and compaction efforts, additional airspace has been gained.”

The landfill has about nine years of use remaining.

But the partner municipalities have strategies intended to extend the life of the landfill beyond the next decade.


Landfill mining to remove cover material (sand, clay, topsoil) from legacy waste.
Grinding and separating waste to extract reusable cover.
Shipping the remaining waste to another facility or to an energy-from-waste facility for incineration.

All the strategies would need approval from the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, and could mean upgrades like liners, leachate management systems, and landfill gas collection systems.

“Each of these presents significant cost challenges for small rural municipalities,” said Tilley.

Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) end up in landfills from consumer products and pose risks through contamination of leachate and landfill gas, and this may become mandatory to monitor, said Tilley.

Also in 2026, Ontario will implement a uniform list of accepted blue box materials across all municipalities.

Film plastics, like chip bags, milk bags, and shrink wrap, may be excluded, increasing landfill volumes and litter risks. Municipal funding for the program has dropped significantly — from 100 per cent provincial support to 25 per cent or less under the Producer Responsibility Model, according to Tilley. The environmental and financial implications of PFAS contamination and Blue Box program changes further complicate the waste management landscape, said Tilley.

“With only nine years of landfill life remaining, critical planning and significant investment are required now,” she said.

While innovative options such as landfill mining and energy-from-waste are on the table, they bring regulatory and financial hurdles for rural municipalities.

“One thing is clear — while zero waste remains a long-term goal, collaborative, adaptive strategies will be necessary in the near term to ensure continued, responsible waste management for the region,” said Tilley.

Ratepayers in the Township of Machar pay a $20 landfill card fee to dispose of garbage from their property at the Municipal Road North landfill. Non-Township of Machar residents from South River, Lount, Laurier, and Ballantyne pay $350 per year.

The McDougall Landfill was surveyed in 2023, and it is projected to have another 32 years of capacity. It takes waste from McDougall and also from transfer sites in the Archipelago, Carling, Seguin, McKellar and Parry Sound.

The site is in good shape and isn’t facing any real challenges, according to Carly Chantler, environmental services supervisor with the Municipality of McDougall.

And, it’s embracing innovation.

“One unique and often overlooked feature of the McDougall landfill is its integrated combined leachate and groundwater treatment facility,” said Chantler. “The landfill design is contained with the use of a lined cell. This allows for the collection of leachate (any liquid that seeps through the waste), which is then processed through an on-site treatment plant, very similar to a wastewater treatment plant. The treated effluent is released into a series of engineered ponds, where it undergoes further natural treatment and breakdown processes before gradually infiltrating back into the ground.”

The landfill is also economically self-sustaining.

“The fees charged to the users of the landfill, including local municipalities, commercial users, and our own rate payers, are set to ensure that the costs of running the landfill and maintaining the related infrastructure are recovered,” said Chantler. “Commercial and municipal user fees make up the majority of revenue. Smaller amounts are generated from McDougall residents and things that we have less control over, such as scrap metal sales.”

Whitestone’s York Street landfill has been in use since the 1960s, and the Auld’s Road Landfill since the 1970s. In 2023, the York Street site was predicted to have from five to 11 years of life left.

“I think the future use of this site would be best served as a waste transfer site when we get to the point where the actual landfill can no longer operate,” said Colin Ross of Azimuth Environmental Consulting Inc. in a presentation to council.

Leaving garbage at the landfill gates is prohibited, and the municipality has security cameras at both sites. 

Seguin has a landfill in Orrville at 39 Star Lake Rd. and seven transfer sites.

The township conducted a waste management review this year as part of a goal to fundamentally change its waste management system. A resident survey was launched in the spring of 2025, and the results were presented to council in July and compiled in a review. The report was to be presented to council on Aug. 5.

“Situated in a region characterized by vast geographical expanses and a diverse mixture of permanent and seasonal residences, the township faces unique pressures in managing its waste effectively,” stated the report. Closure of some transfer stations is on the table, with Bon Echo, Airport and Turtle Lake up for review.

Illegal dumping at the transfer stations, of things like furniture, refrigerators, construction waste and brush, has been an issue for the township.

In the Archipelago, the Site 9 Landfill, which opened in 1988, has surpassed 70 per cent of its anticipated service life, according to Josh Badger, the director of operations and facilities for the township. It only accepts waste from the 3,340 households and businesses within the township.

“Our most recent annual landfill report indicates our landfill has an estimated 15 years of capacity remaining. This regular reporting is essential, as it equips us with the information needed to proactively plan, budget, and begin discussions with the appropriate agencies to explore future options and ensure a smooth, well-prepared future transition should an expansion to our existing operations or new site be required,” said Badger.

The Archipelago has two water-access-only waste and recycling transfer station sites for island residents during the summer months.

“Challenges facing the waste and recycling system now and into the future are the potential for increased disposal volumes generated from households and commercial operations,” said Badger. “An increase in population can have an impact on disposal volumes, which requires greater landfilling or processing capacity at an increasing cost. An additional challenge is changing regulations, including provincial oversight of recycling collection and management, which may require municipalities to adjust how their collection systems are operated.”

Comprehensive education on the impacts of waste is key, as is promoting strategies to minimize it, such as recycling, reducing packaging, and adopting innovative materials and technologies, he said.

“Additionally, every level of government will play an active role in tackling waste management challenges that extend beyond our community to the provincial, national, and global levels,” said Badger. “We have seen other municipalities working to jointly plan for future waste needs, and that may be an option in the future for the West Parry Sound area.”

Unique solutions could transform waste management processes in the Archipelago.

“One promising approach we’re closely monitoring is waste-to-energy technology, which converts waste into electricity, natural gas, and other heating and cooling sources. These technologies have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide low-carbon energy for communities, and significantly reduce the need for landfilling.”

Further, innovations in green transportation, like electric, natural gas, and hydrogen-powered vehicles, lead to greater efficiency and environmental sustainability in waste collection, he said.

“These technologies and innovative solutions are often still in development and not fully feasible today, but are steadily advancing.”

Seguin is also investigating waste-to-energy options with a third-party operator.

The Archipelago invested in the subsidized distribution of FoodCyclers. The organic food waste processor dehydrates and grinds organic materials, keeping them out of the waste stream.

“Nearly 400 residents have taken part in the program, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. To date, we estimate the use of these units has diverted 92 metric tons of organic waste from the landfill and prevented approximately 57.78 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions annually through reduced transportation and landfill impact,” said Badger.

The FoodCycler program also partnered with Shawanaga First Nation, the Town of Parry Sound, the Township of Georgian Bay and Seguin and 1,244 households took part. 

Composting is a way households can extend the life of landfills.

“We don’t want compost in the landfill because the breakdown process is different, because it has no access to oxygen when it’s buried under mountains of trash and more waste. So it releases methane gas, which is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and exacerbates the whole problem quite quickly,” said Delaina Arnold, community programs manager for the Georgian Bay Biosphere, adding organic waste can make up as much as 50 per cent of household waste.

“And it is not actually garbage. It can be made into a very useful soil product, the original fertilizer, as I like to call it.”

This year, the biosphere is partnering with the Township of Georgian Bay in a Kitchen to Compost program, which costs $25 to participate in a mentored approach. One of the barriers to FoodCycler use is the cost to households, which can be up to $200 even with municipal support, and significantly more if folks buy the units individually.

“If you have yard space, there’s no reason you can’t compost in a conventional sense,” said Arnold. “When people sign up, there’s a learning element that they have to do, whether it’s a workshop or join a webinar, or check out the recorded webinar. And then there are some specific steps and things that people need to know to be able to do it successfully and not attract bears.”

A catalyst to the program was a FoodCycler report where 80 to 90 per cent of respondents said they didn’t compost because of concerns about wildlife.

To keep animals out of compost, don’t put in meat, dairy, or bread products.

“If you can’t grow it in your garden, don’t put it in your compost,” said Arnold. “There’s a long list of helpful tips and tricks from how to keep it in your kitchen so it’s not gross on your counter, and how often to add it, and what to do in the winter. And did you know that you’re actually supposed to stir it around once in a while to keep oxygen in the middle? Don’t let it dry out totally.”

The program gives users the information needed to make composting habitual and intuitive.

“Part of the learning through the workshop and the webinar was also the what-if scenarios, because we’re not pretending that bears will never get into a compost again, or raccoons, more likely, to be honest. How do you troubleshoot those things that come up rather than just giving up on them?”

Another diversion program at the biosphere is its repair cafés, and the next one takes place on Aug. 23 from 9 a.m. until noon at the Mary Street Centre. These free community events pair broken items with volunteer fixers and have been taking place all over the world for decades.

A repair cafe is planned for McKellar on Sept. 27.

“Lots of these items include different textiles, like clothes, but also pillows and blankets. We also do a lot of knife sharpening. We can do jewellery repair and some electronics, not TVs, but definitely lamps and things like that. And the idea is that often there’s a very simple fix that can keep an item out of the trash, and sometimes it’s just one little part or something.”

Sometimes the item can’t be fixed by the volunteers, but they can diagnose it.

“I had a clock that wasn’t working, and the repair volunteer was able to tell me what I needed to order. It was a $14 little part to fix my clock,” said Arnold.

Much of the garbage problem comes down to consumerism, and Arnold urges folks to strategically buy items with long lifespans wherever possible. She also points residents to the reuse stores at the transfer sites.

“Seguin has one at the Orrville site, and people leave everything from bikes, kids toys, furniture, kitchen stuff and more there. All things that are perfectly good, and free to take,” she said.

Pamela Steel is a freelance reporter writing with Metroland. This Almaguin News article was written under the Local Journalism Initiative. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.