I live in close proximity to…

I live in close proximity to the proposed waste disposal/landfill site. I have serious concerns regarding the health risks associated with the recycling process. In York 1's proposal they discuss recycling drywall. Only 25% of drywall can actually be recycled with the rest ending up in a landfill. This in turn leads to contamination of soil and groundwater due to the high levels of sulfur and other heavy metals present in the gypsum core. Hydrogen sulfide gas is also released when the remaining drywall is buried in landfills. When you recycle concrete and bricks which York 1 has stated in their proposal, dust containing silica would be released as a particulate. This location is less than a km from town and poses serious respiratory illness risks to all towns people. York 1 claims this is a recycling facility for non-hazardous waste. All construction waste is hazardous in some respect including the shingles with asbestos that they want to recycle!!

This site has been dormant for 30 years so to say it services the Province of Ontario is incorrect. There are only three roads to this site, all which travel directly through multiple small communities. Particulate, liquid waste and not to mention the hundreds of truck emissions will also affect the health and well being of thousands of people. Our infrastructure cannot handle this traffic.

York 1's site also backs up to a protected watershed that often floods. Can you honestly guarantee that those leachate ponds will not ever end up in Molly's Creek or the Sydenham River? Our own municipality does not have the ability to deal with the leachate water either since we already have to manage the ponds from the Ridge Fill landfill.

As the Ministry of Environment, your role is to protect our environment and the people that live in it. I wonder why using good farmland that grows our food as a landfill and dump site is even up for discussion? Yes, years ago it was a dump and landfill but hasn't been utilized as such in years nor to the size of capacity York 1 is proposing. Shouldn't landfills and dump sites be in an area far from where people live and further north where there are shortened growing seasons and infertile soil?

I do hope you consider how many people this dump and landfill will affect in such a negative way. The people of Dresden love our town and want to protect it. This is NOT what we want or need in our farming community!