CEGC 5: Inclusive and sustainable industrialization: Ohsweken Six Nations​ & Carleton Place

Nadine Ibrahim; Christine Moresoli; John Donald

CEGC 5: Inclusive and sustainable industrialization: Ohsweken Six Nations & Carleton Place

Ohsweken Six Nations

A Community Suffering Amid Waste Management Crisis

Ohsweken, Ontario is the largest community located on the Six Nations reserve south of Hamilton with a population of 1,500 (Groat, 2020). Centralized in Southwestern Ontario this reserve has a landfill that services the whole population of the Six Nation reserve, 12,892 people which includes the population of Ohsweken (Groat, 2020). The landfill reached its capacity in 2006 but has continued to be used by piling more waste on top of the full landfill (Huang, 2014). The existing landfill reached capacity at twice the expected rate and much earlier than planned. The landfill does not have a lining such that the liquids produced by the waste are permeating in the surrounding soil. This situation forced the community to find a solution to their waste management needs. The identified solution was an incinerator that promised zero emissions and delivered the exact opposite. The incinerator was found to emit dioxins and furans at 200 times the Ontario limits, lead and cadmium at 25 times the Ontario limits and above standard levels of carbon monoxide and nitric oxide during its five-month long trial run (Green, 2015). The trial run was interrupted due to a community lead protest that called for the incinerator to be shut down due to the emissions, odour, and concerns about the health of the residents (Huang, 2014). From concerns on the lack of lining for the landfill and its overuse and the water quality, this community is lacking adequate resources to address their solid waste management problem. If this situation is not addressed, the future of the residents as well as the surrounding area are uncertain.

References

Green, J. (2015, March 16). Six Nations garbage incinerator pours 200x Ontario limit of pollutants into air | CBC News. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/headlines/six-nations-incinerator-polluting-at-up-to-200-times-ontario-limits-1.2931215.
Groat, C. (2020, February 18). Six Nations of the Grand River. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/six-nations-of-the-grand-river.
Huang, S. (2014, June 13). $4.8M waste disposal machine wreaks havoc in Six Nations. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/headlines/protest-halts-six-nations-incinerator-trial-as-waste-crisis-continues-1.2671144.

Carleton Place

Concrete, CO2, and Climate Change

Carleton Place is a rapidly growing town on the outskirts of Ottawa which, as of 2020, has a population of 13,153. In a 2021 review, projected growth suggests that 3124 additional homes, including 2149 active development applications, need to be built by 2038 to meet projected demands (J.L. Richards & Associates Limited, 2021). Two example are the Bodnar subdivision with 193 single detached homes, 317 townhouse units, and 9 apartment dwellings (Gesner, 2021) and the Carleton Landing North subdivision, with 450 family homes (Olympia Homes, n.d.). The construction of additional homes at Carleton Place will inevitably require the use of concrete, particularly in the foundations of the homes. Concrete is one of the most commonly used building materials on the planet but is also one of the largest CO2 emitters. Concrete accounts for approximately 8% of the CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere (Warburton, 2019); these CO2 emissions contribute to global warming and the negative impacts associated with climate change, including the global average temperature rise, sea level rises, and extreme weather events. A key agent in concrete is cement, the production of which involves combining calcium carbonate, obtained from limestone, with calcium oxide producing carbon dioxide which is emitted to the air. Additionally, this process requires the transport of materials and the heating of a mixture of limestone, clay, and iron ore or ash to extreme temperatures, which results in further CO2 emissions from fossil fuels that may be associated with these operations. As a result of housing development to meet residential demands, Carleton Place will be contributing to the CO2 emissions associated with the use of concrete as a building material.

References