Dresden fights landfill plan as Ontario seeks comment

The municipality of Chatham-Kent is pushing back against a plan to expand a dormant landfill less than a kilometre from Dresden, Ont., as the province takes public comment on amended permits for the project until Dec. 21, 2026.

Waste company York1 wants to revive the small landfill, which dates to the 1960s and holds an estimated 40,000 cubic metres of waste, and expand it to a maximum capacity of 1.6 million cubic metres. That is roughly the volume of Toronto’s Rogers Centre. The company’s site plans say it would take up to 3,000 tonnes of waste a day, mostly soil and other construction waste, and add a transfer station to sort construction debris, scrap wood and blue box material.

Dave Taylor, Chatham-Kent’s chief administrative officer, said council has been unanimously opposed since York1 first proposed the project. “It’s a beautiful town, fantastic community, and this is just a few hundred metres north of town,” he said.

Municipal officials argue the company relied on decades-old permits to avoid a full environmental assessment. They say the landfill has been dormant so long it should be treated as a new project. A traffic report commissioned by the company suggests about 20 two-way truck trips an hour at peak times. Residents have raised concerns about proximity to homes and schools, traffic and water, and a tributary of the Sydenham River runs along the site.

Juliana Wilson, a spokesperson for Ontario Environment Minister Todd McCarthy, said in a statement the project is an expansion of an existing facility that “can mobilize quickly to expand Ontario’s waste management capacity,” because active permissions are already in place and no new environmental assessment is needed. A York1 spokesperson said “nothing is more important than safety” and encouraged people to take part in the provincial review.

The proposal comes as the province prepares to overhaul landfill approvals. Under recent regulatory changes, landfills that want to expand their service area or accept more waste no longer need an environmental assessment and are subject only to amendments to their environmental compliance approvals. An assessment decides whether a project should proceed at all by weighing environmental, social and economic impacts and alternatives. A compliance approval sets operating limits on garbage intake, air pollution and stormwater runoff. New omnibus legislation would also repeal a municipal veto over new dumps that the Ford government granted in 2020.

The minister has warned Ontario could run out of landfill capacity within 10 years, or sooner if U.S. tariffs on Canadian garbage continue. An industry report said Ontario shipped about a quarter of its landfill waste to the United States in 2024.

The province announced in March 2024 that it would pursue an environmental assessment for the Dresden project, citing community concerns. It cancelled that assessment last year in an omnibus bill. Steve Pinsonneault, the Progressive Conservative member for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex who campaigned against the expansion, spoke out against the cancellation but was absent when the legislature voted on it.

Chatham-Kent says that even if the permits are approved, the landfill would still face local zoning requirements, after York1 recently dropped a lawsuit arguing those approvals should not apply. Taylor said the municipality still hopes the concerns it has raised will factor into the province’s decision. Related: Ontario bill aims to cut permit waits.

Via The Canadian Press: Dresden keeps up landfill battle as project seeks Ontario approvals, first published Nov. 10, 2026.

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