WELLINGTON COUNTY – The county will expands its waste diversion efforts by accepting new materials to specialized recycling facilities, starting on May 1.
Wellington County waste facilities are now equipped to divert drywall and shingles, while mattress deconstruction and diversion techniques are being piloted.
The materials were previously sent as general waste to the Riverstown landfill in Wellington North.
“By diverting more materials away from landfill, we’re making better use of our facilities, extending the life of our landfill, preserving valuable space for items that truly have no other disposal option, and ultimately saving money,” stated solid waste services (SWS) committee chair Steve O’Neill.
Waste facilities will have bins/bunkers dedicated to accepting and storing the new diversion materials by the beginning of May.
Rothsay’s waste facility is excluded from the changes as it is not equipped with a weigh scale.
“Operational changes, including the introduction of a $10 minimum waste fee, have made the addition of these materials to the county’s diversion programs possible,” stated an April 24 county press release.
Since its implementation in January 2025, the minimum fee has led to a noticeable drop in small-load traffic and overall tonnage at waste facilities, officials say, which frees up space and resources to manage new recyclable materials.
“We understood that it might not be well received by the public and we’ve heard from some people … that they didn’t like the waste fee,” councillor Gregg Davidson told county council on April 24.
“We started talking about this back in 2015, of changing the centres from garbage receptacles to recycling centres,” he continued.
“And now we’re seeing that we can do that and part of that is because of this change of the waste fee.”
The fee provides an incentive for residents to use roadside services, creating more space to manage and recycle new materials.
“We’re seeing a … 25 per cent reduction of garbage going in and that is amazing,” Davidson said.
“We all know that in Ontario they are not adding any new landfill sites and ours has probably got the most space of anywhere in Ontario.
“If we can maintain that and slow down the amount of garbage that goes in there we will be able to save our local taxpayers a heck of a lot of money.”
Councillor James Seeley corrected Davidson, stating, “We have the most capacity in our landfill in Wellington County to meet our needs, we don’t have the largest landfill with the most capacity in the province.”
SWS manager Das Soligo said Seeley was correct, adding, “Our landfill has got approximately 25 years of capacity for our needs and our waste generation rates.”
Councillor Shawn Watters then questioned the state of the province’s waste capacity.
“In aggregate the province has approximately seven years of landfill capacity left, and if the border to the U.S. is closed to Canadian trash, that will drop to four or five years of landfill capacity left,” Soligo stated.
“It takes 10 years to site a brand-new landfill site and there hasn’t been a new site in 25 years.”
Staff have been directed to seek out further opportunities to attempt to divert carpet, concrete and other items with established diversion markets and local processing facilities, the report states.
For information on accepted materials, fees and waste facility locations, visit wellington.ca/dropoff.
