Niagara Falls Review
Landfill sites are reputed, rightly or wrongly, as stinky, leaking blights on the rural landscape, a lasting scar of urban consumption and consumerism.
They have historically been known to contaminate local water sources and have been the source of more than one malodourous event in neighbouring communities.
But there has been a growing movement to reclaim the lands formerly used as garbage dumps.
Niagara Region successfully turned the old Glenridge Quarry landfill into a nature park.
Others have taken to landfill mining to reclaim recyclable or hazardous materials, and the burning of methane created by the rotting garbage has become a source of energy.
Walker Industries, which is doing quite well in the garbage business, is looking at other alternatives for its full landfills, like farming.
In partnership with the University of Guelph, Walker has been running tests for three years to see what could grow on top of a closed landfill.
The early results have been positive.
Red clover, alfalfa, timothy hay and bromegrass have proven to grow quite well at the Walker facility on the border of Thorold and Niagara Falls.
There is no question it would be tough to sell fruits or vegetables to a discerning consumer if it was known they were grown on the cover of an old landfill site -even if, with a metre of clay and a metre of soil separating the surface from the trash, there is practically no risk of garbage contaminating the crop.
However, agriculture on closed landfill sites could be part of a comprehensive biofuels policy.
Growing awareness of greenhouse gas emissions and the atmospheric effects of burning fossil fuels is driving a search for alternative forms of energy.
Biofuels are an option, but serious ethical questions are raised when there are people starving, yet we consider ripping up food crops in favour of a reliable and renewable energy supply.
Landfills are vast tracts of largely unused open space, often considered a blight on the landscape.
Timothy McVicar, general manager of operations at Walker Industries, estimates there are 3,700 closed landfill sites in Ontario alone – that is thousands of acres of unused land that could be put to good use growing crops that can be efficiently turned into energy, without disrupting our food supply.
Consider it the ultimate reclamation project that is definitely worthy of more study.