On weekends throughout the summer, locals gather at the Dresden Raceway in Southwestern Ontario to watch horse-and-carriage rallies, tractor pulls and sometimes a demolition derby where cars slam into each other until only one is left standing.<\/p>\n
Dresden, population 2,800, is a special place, said Martha Fehr, the 22-year-old owner of a chip shop across the road. <\/p>\n
The town is growing with housing developments, a Christmas light competition and night markets that bring in thousands of visitors from the surrounding area. Most of Ms. Fehr\u2019s childhood friends have come home, she said, preferring the sense of community found here to big-city life.<\/p>\n
But that small-town charm may be about to change, Ms. Fehr and many others in Dresden worry. A landfill and waste processing facility is slated to be developed less than 800 metres from the downtown core, and the project is moving forward despite fierce pushback from the municipality. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy entire livelihood is in this thing,\u201d said Ms. Fehr, gesturing to her fry shop. \u201cWho wants to buy food that is three kilometres from a massive waste facility?\u201d<\/p>\n
Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Chip-shop owner Martha Fehr is among the local business owners anxious about a landfill in Dresden, a town about three hours\u2019 drive west of Toronto.<\/p>\n Since 2020, new landfill sites in Ontario have been subject to comprehensive environmental impact assessments that require the support of all municipalities within 3.5 kilometres. <\/p>\n The Dresden site, however, is categorized as a closed landfill, a leftover from some small waste-management activity that started 60 years ago. This makes the site a grey zone, as far as environmental regulations go, with few limits on what could happen there. <\/p>\n Still, in 2024 the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks ordered a comprehensive study for the project. In June, however, it backtracked on this decision, and now the Dresden project is becoming emblematic of Ontario\u2019s growing trash troubles. <\/p>\n According to provincial data, Ontario has roughly 1,800 closed landfills; few Ontarians live far from one. If the Doug Ford government allows the Dresden approach to be replicated, many more communities could find themselves hosting reopened, greatly expanded landfills \u2013 and with few options at hand to oppose them. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a red flag for rural Ontario,\u201d said Chatham-Kent councillor Jamie McGrail.<\/p>\n About half the patrons at Crystal Cadotte\u2019s popcorn and candy shop on North Street, the main drag, come to the town for the quaint atmosphere that a landfill would imperil, she says. Now she wonders whether to move away. \u2018Do you get out before?\u2019 she asks. \u2018Get my money out now?\u2019<\/p>\n The 35-hectare plot of land on Irish School Road is approximately three hours from Toronto, a straight shot down Highway 401 followed by roughly 30 minutes on country roads. It has been a small-scale landfill of sorts since the 1960s. At first the municipality used it to dispose of fly ash from a nearby incinerator. Later it was also used for scrap wood and non-hazardous waste, leading it to be designated as a landfill in the 1980s. The maximum waste allowed to be stored on the property was 75 tonnes a day. <\/p>\n Ontario\u2019s current landfill site regulations and standards were not in place at the time, and there is no evidence of any environmental impact studies or engineering assessments being completed, according to a letter sent to the Environment Ministry from the municipality of Chatham-Kent, obtained by The Globe and Mail.<\/p>\n Today, the site contains approximately 40,000 cubic metres of fill material across three areas which, when combined, equal two hectares. To the municipality\u2019s knowledge, the site was inactive, said Bruce McAllister, general manager of development services at Chatham-Kent. But it\u2019s about come back online in a major way. <\/p>\n York1 Environmental Waste Solutions Ltd \u2013 a GTA-based waste management company \u2013 purchased the plot in Dec., 2022. The original plans for the site, published on the environmental registry of Ontario<\/a>, divided the site into two parts.<\/p>\n The first part was a proposed eight-hectare landfill, which the company said had a theoretical capacity of 1,620,000 cubic metres, about the volume of the Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto. It would receive 40 times more waste \u2013 in the form of non-hazardous solid construction and demolition material from across the province \u2013 than exists there currently and be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (York1 has since adjusted these proposed operating times to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday). <\/p>\n The second part was a waste-processing facility that would \u2013 across the remaining 25 hectares \u2013 recycle and divert a maximum of 1,000 tonnes a day of residual waste. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n This new subdivision is a few hundred metres away from the landfill site.<\/p>\n The fact that a comprehensive assessment was not required was a major selling feature, York1 spokesperson Laryssa Waler said.<\/p>\n Since 2020, when Premier Doug Ford introduced Bill 197 \u2013 a provision added to the Environmental Assessment Act that gives municipalities the right to veto landfills \u2013 comprehensive studies have been a major hurdle for projects. The law was one of the biggest changes to waste management practices in Ontario\u2019s history, and it made opening new landfills virtually impossible, experts told The Globe and Mail<\/a>. A comprehensive study can take a decade to complete and cost in excess of $10-million.<\/p>\n But because the Dresden site was already a designated landfill, the community had little opportunity to object. No comprehensive study meant less community consultation, an essential part of the assessments that must factor in socio-economic effects alongside potential environmental impact.<\/p>\n The government would never consider doing such a thing in Toronto, said Darrin Canniff, Mayor of Chatham-Kent, the region encompassing Dresden. \u201cNot for a second. But they decided on Dresden because, oh, it\u2019s a small town, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n Many in the community felt betrayed and abandoned. They questioned how their businesses, property values and infrastructure would be affected by pollution, truck traffic and other potential problems. And to many it simply felt unfair: The region is already home to a landfill that receives 1.3 million tonnes of waste a year from southern and central Ontario. <\/p>\n \u201cOur town is not a dumping zone,\u201d said Stefan Premdas, an organizer for a local group fighting the project. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Activists opposing the Dresden landfill managed to make some headway last year, but the passage of Bill 5 this summer changed that.<\/p>\n In spring 2024, uproar from the community during a by-election persuaded the Ministry of Environment to require a comprehensive study for the project<\/a>.<\/p>\n To York1, this was an unjustifiable and politically motivated change of course, Ms. Waler said. For Dresden, it was a victory, Mr. Canniff said; the community had fought hard to get the comprehensive environmental assessment. <\/p>\n York1 filed a judicial review in July, 2024, arguing that the company bought the land on assurances from the ministry that it would not need to conduct a comprehensive study. These promises were broken, Ms. Waler said.<\/p>\n Almost a year later, the province once again changed course with Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act.<\/p>\n Justifying this about-face, Environment Minister Todd McCarthy referenced the large quantity of Ontario\u2019s waste that is exported to the U.S. for disposal. Amid trade disputes, he warned, those shipments could be curtailed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe pivoted in the face of a crisis to build our landfill capacity,\u201d he told the Legislative Assembly. <\/p>\n The waste management industry\u2019s warnings about dwindling landfill capacity predate Bill 197 \u2013 and even Mr. Ford\u2019s 2018 election victory. Waste to Resource Ontario (a trade organization formerly known as the Ontario Waste Management Association) had long pointed out the possibility that trade disputes and restrictions on waste exports into the U.S. could strain the province\u2019s landfills. <\/p>\n According to a report published in 2023 by the Association of Municipalities Ontario, Ontario generated between 12.7 million and 15.5 million tonnes of waste in 2022, but only 8.8 million tonnes of that was landfilled within the province. <\/p>\n The waste organization\u2019s latest landfill report, published in 2021, predicted that, provided population growth held steady and exports continued, existing capacity would be exhausted between 2032 and 2036. Bill 197 is \u201cthe biggest obstacle to increasing capacity,\u201d the organization states on its website.<\/p>\n The municipalities association has blasted the government for failing to address the crisis, for example by increasing waste diversion, or banning disposal of food waste and other materials. The government\u2019s efforts to build 1.5 million new homes in the next few years will make matters worse, it alleges.<\/p>\n In Dresden, York1 is pioneering another option, Ms. Waler said. <\/p>\n \u201cOne promising solution to the province\u2019s landfill capacity crisis is the adaptive reuse of existing landfill sites,\u201d she said. \u201cBy leveraging existing licences and environmental permits, these sites can be transformed into modern recycling facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n But the Dresden landfill would provide only minimal relief. According to York1\u2019s published plans, it would accept a maximum of 365,000 tonnes of waste a year \u2013 an increase in annual capacity of about 4.1 per cent. Moreover, it would operate only until 2032.<\/p>\n By making it prohibitively difficult to open new landfills, Bill 197 \u201ccreated an environment that encourages proponents to take this Dresden approach,\u201d said Jessica Boily, an environmental lawyer at Gowling WLG.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Todd McCarthy, Ontario\u2019s Environment Minister, has defended the Ford government’s about-face on landfills, citing trade disputes with the United States.Cole Burston\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n Alexandru Cioban, a spokesperson for Mr. McCarthy, refused to answer questions about how the government plans to address the crisis. Mr. McCarthy\u2019s office also denied an open request for an interview prior to this article\u2019s publication.<\/p>\n And Mr. Cioban didn\u2019t answer whether the government will promote the reopening of other closed landfills. Mr. McCarthy\u2019s public comments, though, suggest he regards this as a pragmatic, viable solution. He repeatedly emphasized in the Legislative Assembly that the Dresden site is attractive because it\u2019s already an approved waste management location.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will do it in a balanced, responsible way in Dresden and anywhere else where landfill capacity needs to be expanded,\u201d he said in the Legislative Assembly on May 14.<\/p>\n York1 still had to abide by some environmental assessments, such as requirements for air, noise emissions and sewage works. The company also planned to engineer the landfill according to modern standards, with clay liner, leachate collection, and an extraction pond and ditches. These changes would make the site \u201cmore environmentally sound than it had been in previous uses,\u201d said the company in a legal document obtained by The Globe and Mail. <\/p>\n But these regulations and environmental assessments are far less robust than a comprehensive study, said Richard Lindgren, a lawyer at Canadian Environmental Law Association and legal counsel for the community group fighting the project. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are pretty significant potential adverse impacts associated with landfilling, and that\u2019s why its appropriate for these kinds of projects to receive the highest level of scrutiny possible.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear how many of Ontario\u2019s 1,800 closed landfills could be candidates for reopening. Many presumably closed because they were full, or were no longer economically viable. Ms. Boily added that many were located in areas that have been developed since their closure.<\/p>\n However, given the challenges of opening new landfills \u2013 and the demand for them \u2013 options are limited. Should the expanding of old landfills become more common practice, more and more communities such as Dresden will be left to deal with the consequences.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a>Waste and water: More from The Globe and MailThe Decibel podcast<\/p>\n \u201cForever chemicals\u201d in drinking water can be dangerous to our health, and Health Canada has tightened up its rules to keep us safe from them. But when The Globe asked all provinces whether they were following those rules, only PEI said yes.<\/a> Water reporter Patrick White spoke with The Decibel<\/a> about the costs of inaction against a toxic threat. Subscribe for more episodes.<\/a><\/p>\n Clean water, clean communities<\/p>\n How this B.C.-based startup is helping food-service operators keep takeout containers out of landfills<\/a><\/p>\n