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Orono Town Hall RONO Weekly Times Volume 64, Number 36 750 GST Included Wednesday, September 13,2000 BBg| l^gygyjgggjj MMMI Local sheep farmer, Bert DeWitt, relieved this Dorset Cross yearling ewe of her warm wooly coat Sunday afternoon at the Ôrçno Fair's Sheep Show. Dewitt gave several shearing demonstrations throughout the afternoon, which was sponsored by the Orono Business Improvement Association . Group calls for ban on sludge piles There has been no testing ' on leachate from paper sludge in stockpiles, therefore there is reason to believe that the sludge stockpiled on the Moraine may constitute a potential for adverse impact on the environment. So says Protect the Ridges, a newly formed community group which has taken on the issue of storage and permanent dumping of paper sludge on the Oak Ridges Moraine. The Municipality of Clarington has formally laid charges against C'ourtice Auto Wreckers for improper outside outside storage of non aggregate material in an aggregate pit, zoned for aggregate extraction extraction only. The case will make its first appearance in court on Church Street • in Bowmanville, September 19, 2000. The pit - lies north of the 10th concession in north-west Clarington. This pit is located located in a locally significant wetland, wetland, which is a headwater for both the Bowmanville and Oshawa Creeks and is host to huge piles; tons and tons of paper sludge. Glenn Barkey and Walter Vice, 'Protect the Ridges' representatives, representatives, presented a well prepared address to Clarington Council Monday evening, outlining their concerns concerns with stockpiling of large quantities of paper sludge and the resulting potential risk to the environment that may occur during decomposition of the sludge when it is stored for long periods of time. Paper sludge is the residue from the process of recycling paper. According to'Protect the Ridges' the sludge, in question , comes from the Atlantic Packaging plants in Whitby . and Scarborough. The Whitby. plant purchases and recycles all paper and cardboard collected for recycling recycling in the Region of Durham. In the past, paper sludge was spread on farm land as a soil enhancement conditioner. While 'Protect the Ridges' have grave concerns about this practice, they say fewer farmers are accepting the sludge, with the accompanying accompanying nitrogen that they are also given to help break down the organic matter of the sludge. Glenn Barkey of 'Save the Ridges' says "the disposal of the sludge is becoming a major problem for the producer producer [Atlantic Packaging]. Less than 1/2 the annual production production of Atlantic Packaging paper sludge is now being disposed disposed of in this manner," he stated. "However," said Barkey, "the production of paper sludge continues at approximately approximately 700 tons a day, or 2$0,000 tons a year. Every ton of product [recycled paper] means roughly an equal ton of waste sludge." Sludge consists of unusable clay, short paper fiber, ink and dye residue, and an unknown number of chemicals. "The risk is contaminant known to exjst in this sludge, as well as the many contaminant contaminant that have yet to be properly properly identified, will leach into the ground water under the Moraine," stated Barkey. Courtice Auto Wreckers are using the pit in Clarington to manufacture a product called 'Sound-sorb' whiçh is paper sludge mixed with 30% sand, , Sound-sorb is being used to create, large sound berms at gun clubs around the province including the Oshawa Skeet and Gun Club. Gun clubs have to meet new provincial guidelines regarding regarding noise levels. 'Protect the Ridges' asked council to have the piles of stored paper sludge on the Clarington site removed, ensure proper regulations are introduced and enforced in respect to the storage of sludge, and to ensure sludge is not used as a component of unregulated landfill for the reclamation of depleted aggregate pits for instance. The requests were received by staff and will be .addressed in an upcoming report. 'Protect the Ridges' will hold their 3rd public meeting on the evening of September 27, "2000, in the Enfield United Church.