The Halton Waste Management Site is Halton’s “one stop” solution for the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), yard waste composting, the safe disposal of household hazardous waste and of course, garbage disposal.
Site Selection & Opening
For a municipality to obtain disposal capacity, an Environmental Assessment (EA) process must be conducted and approved by the Province. The Province issues a Certificate of Approval that allows the Site to operate under certain environmental conditions.
After an extensive search that included a mandatory, comprehensive Environmental Assessment process and a series of legal hearings, the location in Milton was chosen as the preferred site for the Halton Waste Management Site.
The Halton Waste Management Site opened September 28, 1992.
When it opened, the landfill had a life expectancy of 20 years, or to the year 2012. Because residents so enthusiastically participated in recycling programs, the landfill life’s expanded to the year 2023. With the introduction of the GreenCart program in April 2008, the landfill life is expected to expand to 2031.
The entire Site is 126 hectares (311 acres).
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Site Design & Sustainability
To blend into the local farming community, all buildings are designed to resemble barns and farm houses.
An ongoing tree planting program takes place using native species. Volunteer groups such as Scouts Canada participate in annual tree planting events.
The 4 kilometers of onsite access roads were paved with rubberized asphalt, which used approximately 35,000 scrap tires.
Rainwater and snow melt from building roofs and storm water ponds is collected and used for equipment washing and other non-potable uses.
A small vehicle with a magnet is driven around the site to collect nails, screws and other metals to prevent other vehicles from getting flat tires.
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Container Station
Most customers visiting the HWMS will stop at the Container Station to drop off materials for recycling as well as garbage for disposal. Over 8,000 tonnes of recyclables are collected at the Container Station each year.
On a busy Saturday, approximately 1,600 cars visit the Container Station.
Materials are placed into large blue bins, which are loaded on to the back of trucks. Trucks take the materials to be weighed and then go to various locations to be processed and recycled.
Click here for more information about the Container Station and Fees.
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Salvation Army Reuse Depot
Usable items that are in good condition and fit for resale may be dropped off at the Salvation Army Reuse Depot located at the Site.
Click here for more information about the Salvation Army Reuse Depot.
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Household Hazardous Waste Depot
Each year, over 800,000 litres of household hazardous waste is diverted from the landfill. This is equivalent to 20 large tanker trucks each year.
Household hazardous waste must not be put in the garbage or down drains or storm sewers.
Household hazardous waste is usually labeled as corrosive, explosive, poisonous or flammable.
Click here for more information about the Household Hazardous Waste Depot.
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Paint & Stain Reuse Depot
Paint and stains in good condition collected at the Household Hazardous Waste Depot are put in the Paint & Stain Reuse Depot. From spring to fall, residents can collect free paint to be reused.
Click here for more information about the Paint & Stain Reuse Depot.
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Scalehouse
Vehicles entering the Site are weighed. When a vehicle leaves the Site, it is weighed again. The difference tells the Site how much material has been deposited for recycling or landfilling. The weight also determines the fee for disposal.
The average garbage truck carries 11 tonnes of garbage.
Approximately 170,000 vehicles use the Site each year.
Click here for more information about Fees.
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Yard Waste Composting Pad
Approximately 32,000 tonnes of yard waste is received each year at the Site for composting.
The yard waste is put through a grinder, similar to an electric pencil sharpener, to break the material down into small bits.
This material is put into long piles call “windrows.” Micro-organisms, which are invisible to the eye, begin to eat away at the yard waste. These micro-organisms need air to thrive aerobically, so machines flip the piles daily to put more air into the windrows.
With all those micro-organisms eating away at the yard waste, the windrows start to heat up. They get to be between 60oC and 70oC.
After one year (including a curing process), the yard waste has been composted into something called “humus,” which looks and smells like soil. This humus contains valuable nutrients, and is put in gardens and lawns to help them grow healthy.
Every year, Halton Region gives away some of this compost for free to residents during special events at the Site. Click here for more information about this year's Compost Give Away.
Click here for more information about yard waste collection.
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Landfill Gas Project
The Landfill Gas Collection and Utilization Project is a partnership between Halton Region and Oakville Hydro Energy Services Inc. to collect landfill gas and use it to produce electricity.
The project provides enough “green” energy to power approximately 1,500 homes.
Inside the landfill, buried organic waste decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen) and produces landfill gas, including methane.
Collecting landfill gas from the landfill reduces odours and cuts down the emission of methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, thereby improving the environment.
Over five kilometers of piping was installed within the buried waste to allow gas to flow, under vacuum, from the landfill’s interior to the generators.
The methane is used as fuel in the generators to produce “green” energy. The electricity generated is sent directly to the public grid by way of a permanent hydro pole line.
Click here for more information about the Landfill Gas Collection & Utilization Project.
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Landfill
The landfill is 53 hectares (131 acres). Annually 90,000 tonne of waste is landfilled. The final height of the fill is approximately 20 metres.
Landfill Construction
The landfill is divided into five separate disposal areas called “cells.” Cell 1 and 2 have almost reached capacity, and the new Cell 3 has been added.
The Site’s landfill cells are all lined with re-moulded clay, gravel, pipes and special fabrics. The re-moulded clay is found right at the Site. The main barrier is 1.2 metres thick. Clay is very effective in keeping water and contaminants from seeping or leaking into the surrounding environment. Soil and ground water remains safe.
Leachate Collection System
Leachate is a liquid created from water that seeps through and mixes with the decomposing waste.
Leachate contains a combination of the chemicals that leach from various wastes as they degrade. Because leachate can be harmful, it is collected to prevent it from entering groundwater.
The leachate collection system consists of a layer of gravel and a series of perforated pipes that captures the leachate. The leachate flows into solid pipes leading to a pumping station. A gravity sewer directs it to a wastewater treatment plant for full treatment.
Daily Operations
The bulldozer opens the “tipping face” (the area where garbage is placed) every morning by removing daily cover soil from the previous day, using its ripper to scratch the tipping floor to create small drainage trenches, and prepares the tipping face access road.
The Site handles about 300 tonnes of non-hazardous solid waste per day.
The waste from garbage trucks and other vehicles is emptied at the “tipping face.”
The compactor, weighing 38 tonnes, spreads the waste into a 30 centimeter thick layer and performs at least four to six passes, using its big wheels with steel “teeth” to flatten and pack the waste into the Site as tightly as possible.
At the end of the day, the bulldozer hauls daily cover soil, or an alternative such as a giant tarp, over the garbage to reduce odours and to prevent animals from accessing the garbage.
Bird Control
The Halton Waste Management Site is one of the very few landfills in North America that has a successful gull control program. The Site is within 25 kilometers of the Hamilton Harbour, one of the largest gull nesting areas in Canada, and is also within 4 kilometers of a small airport.
Conditions in the Site’s Provincial Certificate of Approval require the control of the gull population.
The Site has a full-time bird control contractor who uses birds of prey, pyrotechnics and distress signals to control gull population at the Site.
The hawk’s is named Xena. She is a Harris hawk, a desert hawk suited to a landfill environment.
Litter Control
Portable fences on rubber tires are used to allow easy control of litter at the landfill. The fence units can be towed easily by pickup trucks or a front-end loader. It takes less than 45 minutes to line up 10 portable fence units, totaling 91 meters.
A semi-permanent fabric fence surrounds each cell, and the entire Site is encircled by a tall chain-link security fence.
Staff collect litter on a regular basis.
Monitoring Wells
Over 200 monitoring wells have been drilled around the Site, some even half kilometer away, in order to assess local groundwater. No contamination from the Site has been detected.
Surface Water
Retention ponds and surface water ditches collect clean water for release into natural streams.
Download the HWMS Activity Book, a wonderful resource for children 
1.3MB.
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