Warwick Township is acknowledging concerns regarding the Twin Creeks Landfill and encouraging residents to submit formal complaints to Waste Management (WM).
Speaking with Sarnia News Today, Mayor Todd Case said the municipality has fielded "more complaints in the last little while" about the landfill off Nauvoo Road in Watford.
"There's always complaints around the landfill, odour issues, dust impacts, noise, traffic... but it seems to have escalated quite a bit in the last little while," Case said. "So, we wanted to be proactive and make it easier for our ratepayers to be able to lodge those complaints, and lodge those complaints to the proper individuals."
The township has shared the proper contact information on its website and Facebook page.
"Again, our residents are always welcome to call the municipal office as well, we log those complaints as well. But, this just makes it a little easier for people to complain through the proper channels and that's to WM and to the Ministry of Environment," he said.
Case thinks a few things have led to the increased complaints.
"I think some of it has to do with the weather that we've been experiencing here, the temperatures and humidity, also the construction they're doing around the new RNG (renewable natural gas) site that's associated with the landfill," he said.
Case thinks human error is another contributing factor.
"They just aren't doing a good job of the cover at the end of the day. When it's a Friday night and people are sitting in their backyard, myself included, at 7-7:30 p.m. after the hours of operation and the landfill's not operating -- and you can smell it -- that's definitely a garbage smell and usually it means somebody hasn't done the proper routine when it comes to daily cover," he said.
Case concludes a need for better communication.
"At one time WM did a pretty good job, in my opinion, of communicating to the municipality if they were doing certain construction at the landfill, putting new gas wells in, so we could let our residents know. But, I will say, in the last little while they have not done as good of a job," he said.
Case said the municipality met with WM recently and shared that they are not happy with how the company is communicating.
He said WM indicated new protocols would be set up to address communication concerns.
"At the end of the day, we're not happy with the status quo and they can do better," Case said.
