The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, Ju ne 28 ,2 01 8 | 18 THIS COULD BE YOUR NEW HOME! Live at The Gallery - North Halton's hottest living option for those 60+ The MacDonald One-bedroom with den suite 605 - 897 sq ft - $395,000 Pet-free Floor Call Paul at (416) 258-1484 to learn more, arrange a showing or go on our Interest List. 200 Halton Hills Dr., Georgetown www.BennettVillage.ca Suite features: • One-bedroom plus den, one full bathroom with walk-in shower and one half-bathroom • Engineered hardwood throughout • Porcelain tile in Bathrooms, Laundry Room and Kitchen • One year old stainless steel kitchen appliances • Full size stacked washer and dryer • One underground parking spot and one storage locker included • Tiled balcony with western Escarpment view Monthly costs - Occupancy Fee $535, Property Taxes $176 Halton Region's com- post waste is being diverted to London, Ont., after the city of Hamilton shut down their Burlington Street op- erations. The City of Hamilton chose to shut the site down after what has been de- scribed as a 'crippling stench' creeping into in parts of the downtown over the past two weeks. It came to a head on Saturday night at the Tim Hortons Field, where the Arkells played a concert. Hamilton Coun. Sam Merulla urged the city to close the site, saying he was swamped with complaints about the smell. He even said that he is seeking puni- tive damages for the odour. Halton has a contract to send nearly 2,600 tonnes of compost there annually, which is 35 per cent of the facilities capacity. "Food waste does often have odour issues," said Jim Harnum, Halton's commissioner of public works. Harnum says that the region's food waste will now be trucked to Orga- world in London while the Ministry of Environment tries to figure out exactly what the problem was. The Region of Halton, as well as Niagara Region send compost to the site. Both the city of Hamil- ton and Halton Region have committed funding to re- ducing odour at the facility through upgrades. "Typically, this facility is run quite well," said Har- num. "But with food waste you do end up with upset conditions at times." Harnum is not sure how long the Halton compost will be trucked out to Lon- don for, but the City of Hamilton and the contrac- tor are working with the Ministry of Environment to come up with a solution. "Any cost that is in- curred, the contractor is re- sponsible for," said Har- num. "There won't be any additional cost to Halton residents." Additionally, Halton's contingency plan would be to store the compost at their own waste transfer station while they wait for the Hamilton site to reopen. "Food waste doesn't stop," said Harnum, ex- plaining that compost ser- vices are available to all residents in the region, save for homes in rural Mil- ton and Burlington. The program has a 90 per cent engagement rate in the region. The region has never considered in-house com- posting services, as Har- num says the market has the capacity, and is much more feasible to outsource. statement Monday it is still reviewing the situation and has not issued any or- ders or taken any enforce- ment action. While the plant shut- down is a first for Hamil- ton, other Ontario cities have faced similar chal- lenges. Guelph's compost plant, also run by AIM Environ- mental, had to shut down soon after opening in 2012 to deal with odour con- cerns. A compost plant in Lon- don, Ont., meanwhile, was fined more than $1 million last year because of several years of odour emissions tracked by the MOE. - With files by the Hamil- ton Spectator NEWS Trucks carrying green bin material enter the the city's resource recovery centre on Burlington Street. Halton compost to be trucked to London while Hamilton compost facility is closed Burlington street site closed by city after massive stench at Arkells concert ALEXANDRA HECK aheck@metroland.com John Rennison/ The Hamilton Spectator Hamilton Councillor Sam Merulla. Gord Bowes/ Hamilton Spectator