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^----Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday» April 24, 2002 - 5 ^ Pass the salt Compost lor the takiig The Region is offering compost free for the taking on Saturday, May 4th. A maximum of three blue box size containers will be available per customer. >• The composite is from a pilot project carried out by the Region of Durham seven years ago. The Region at that time collected bagged leaves at the curbside and deposited them at the Oshawa/Whitby Depot. The leaves were manually manually de-bagged into a giant leaf pile which was compacted, compacted, and left to decompose. The Region has been offering free composite from the giant leaf pile every fall and spring for a number of years, says Waste Management Technician Rob Owens. "We might get one or two more seasons out of it, and then that's it." Yard waste collected in the Region now goes to a commercial commercial composting facility in Newmarket. The reason the Region is giving away this compost, says Owens, is to try and convince convince people that they can do this themselves. "We would like to convince people to try and divert food and yard waste right at their home," stated Owens in a phone interview interview with The Times on Monday. "Even though there is curb- side collection of organic matter, the collection comes at a cost. It doesn't cost anything anything to compost in your backyard." Besides providing all kinds of backyard composting information on Free Compost Day, the Region will be selling selling composters at $25 each and blue boxes for $4 each. Compost recipients are asked to bring their own shovel shovel and containers. Free Compost Day, an event sponsored by the Clarington Operations Department and the Region of Durham will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday May 4th, at the Hampton Arena, 2276 Taunton Road. IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE IN THE ORONO WEEKLY TIMES 983-5301 Clarington looks for ways of reducing winter roadway salting While Environment Canada is still deciding whether road salt is a toxic substance or not, Clarington's Works Department is taking steps to reduce their road salt requirements. "For the sake of the environment environment we've got to look at better ways of doing things," said Clarington's Operations Manager Fred Horvath in an interview last Week. However, roadway salt has been used since the 1930s, "and it's still the best way we have of reducing accidents in the winter," states Horvath. Each year approximately 300 Canadians are killed and 11,000 injured in road accidents accidents in which snow and ice are a major cause. While 4.7 million tonnes of road salt used on our highways each winter makes driving safer, a recent study by Environment Canada shows that it has numerous harmful impacts on vegetation and freshwater systems. However, Environment Canada has no definitive evidence as yet that road salt is harmful to humans. While road salt is the best way we have of providing safety on winter roads, says Horvath, the public is becoming becoming increasingly concerned with seeing so much salt on the road. Experiments with different products, some agriculturally based, are ongoing, although nothing has been found as yet to be as effective as salt in reducing winter driving hazards, hazards, claims Horvath. (continued page 11) Managing Used Fuel Responsibly !/* My name Is Kurt Johansen. I'm Project Manager for the Environmental Assessment of Ontario Power Generation's proposal to construct and operate a Used Fuel Dry Storage Facility at Darlington Nuclear and I would like to invite you to attend one of our upcoming information Open Houses. Responsible Management As part of our nuclear waste management program, used fuel bundles have been stored safely in water-filled bays at Darlington Nuclear for more than ten years. OPG is proposing to transfer these bundles into large concrete and steel storage containers and then place them in on-site storage buildings specifically built for this purpose. Similar technology has been approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and is in use at OPG's Pickering Nuclear and is under construction at OPG's waste management facility in Bruce County. I# III m Typical Fuel Bundle iSf mms Dry Storage Container Participate in an Open House As part of the planning and approval process for this proposed facility, we are conducting an environmental assessment that includes ongoing public consultation. In June 2001, we held our first round of open houses to introduce the project to the community. Now, we are continuing with a second round to share our results-to-date and provide .a forum for public comment. Your comments will be included in the EA Study Report to be submitted to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the authority responsible for this EA under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Open houses will be held at the locations and dates listed below. OPG staff and expert consultants will be on hand to answer your questions. We look forward to seeing you there. DARLINGTON ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OPEN HOUSE DATES AND LOCATIONS Wednesday, April 24 3:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Clarington Beech Centre 26 Beech Ave., Bowmanville Thursday, April 25 3:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Scugog Community Centre 1655 Reach St., Port Perry For more information, please call us at 1-888-413-2226, or write to: Darlington Used Fuel Dry Storage Project c/o Darlington Information Centre, Box 4000, Holt Road South, Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3Z8 or visit our web site: www.opg.com/DarlEA or E-mail us at: hausscon@rogers.com putting our energy to good use www.opg.com ONTARIOrSïEïS GENERATION