Residents fight Ottawa composter's diaper bid

A bid to allow diapers to be processed at a new Ottawa composting plant is opposed by some Ottawa community groups. But opponents said they would be less concerned about letting the plant take plastic bags.

Orgaworld, the company contracted to take kitchen scraps and other organic waste through the City of Ottawa's new green bin program, appeared at a preliminary hearing before a provincial environmental tribunal Thursday.

It is seeking the right to process both diapers and plastics at its new plant in Ottawa's south end. The appeal hearing will take place in May.

Three local residents, including two representing community groups, spoke Thursday against the bid, which the City of Ottawa also opposes.

"We've been fighting the spreading of sewage sludge in the Ottawa rural areas for almost 10 years now and we didn't want to have to deal with a whole lot of new waste coming through the green waste facilities," said Jim Poushinsky, spokesman for a group that fights the application of human waste on local farmland.

He lives within five kilometres of the new plant on Hawthorne Road.

Less concern on plastic

Poushinsky, chair of Ottawa Citizens Against Pollution By Sewage, said he was less concerned about the possibility that the plant could gain the right to process items like plastic bags.

"It sounds like they can remove the plastic," he said.

However, Poushinsky questioned why Orgaworld was allowed to build a plant capable of processing 150,000 tonnes of waste a year if its contract with the city is for only half that amount.

"They could have done with a much smaller facility just for Ottawa's waste, but this is opening it up to take waste from all over — Quebec, eastern Ontario, possibly the northern United States."

Tom Corbett, a lawyer for Orgaworld, said the city has a right to decide what goes in its bins, but the company wants to be able to take waste from other sources.

"Not necessarily other municipalities — we can take it from institutions, there's nobody in particular, but when you run a business, you look at flexibility and the possibility of other customers," Corbett said.

He added that the waste Orgaworld wants to be able to take is non-hazardous.

But environmental activist Ken McRae, who also spoke at the tribunal, said he was worried some of the pharmaceuticals found in human waste from diapers could be harmful when applied to farm fields.

"I would not want to be eating food that might be compromised by inappropriate compost from the Orgaworld plant," he said.

The Ramsayville Community Association, which represents residents who live near the plant, also spoke against the appeal.