by PATRICK LEJTENYI

Quebecers make a lot of garbage—well over a tonne per inhabitant per year, among the highest outputs in the world. And disposing of it is becoming a big problem. Ever since the City of Montreal issued increased tariffs on garbage transporters to the Miron Quarry, the only dump on-island, two years ago, the 30-odd municipalities that make up the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC) have been wondering where and how to dispose of our waste. One solution has been to chuck whatever we don’t burn or recycle into off-island dumps. But this is creating a further quandary—namely, that the Lachenaie dump north of Montreal, one of the four big sites for the province’s garbage disposal, is filling up fast and proposals to expand it are being met with outrage by nearby residents.

“They want to make it the Wal-Mart of waste,” says Karel Ménard, director of the Montreal-based Front commun québécois pour une gestion écologique des déchets. Ménard says that Browning-Ferris Industries Ltd. (BFI), the private, Houston-based company that owns and manages the dump in Lachenaie, is pushing to expand the dump by 40-million cubic metres. This would make it the largest dump in the province and, when filled, would create a 180-foot high, 14-million tonne mountain of garbage. “It would be a Mont Royal of trash,” he says.

“My greatest fear is being considered sub-human by BFI,” says David Modlin, a resident of neighbouring Lachenaie municipality Mascouche. “We’re being treated like savages. There’s a lot of fear, a lot of people are moving.” Modlin is taking part in a series of area residents’ meetings to discuss the plan and, they hope, block it. They have until Nov. 22 to submit requests for a public audience with the provincial Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement.

A previous plan to increase the size of the dump in 1994 was shelved and an expansion moratorium was placed the following year. But because the facility is almost at capacity, there is an urgent need to either expand it now or find another place to store our garbage.

Ménard says that smell and unsightliness aren’t the only drawbacks to expanding the dump. “There are a lot of concerns,” he says. “The problems concern the environment, social aspects like housing value, the roads and human health.” The expanded dump would be a large source of carbon dioxide and methane gas emission, would be sure to attract rodents and would also affect the quality of the water.

Another source of frustration is BFI’s sudden announcement that expansion is required immediately, before the city and the MMC have had time to finalize a waste management program. “BFI has the ability to screw the MMC because they can impose what they want on it,” Ménard says. He claims that because BFI disposes of such a large chunk of the province’s garbage—he estimates it at 20 per cent—they are in a position to dictate their own terms.

“If BFI’s dump closes, it’ll be a big problem for Montreal,” he says. “The company can impose its own rules of the game. The city has been taken hostage by the company.”

A representative from BFI Canada’s Toronto corporate headquarters was not available for comment by press time. :