An automated vacuum waste collection system was considered in Mississauga
Published June 20, 2022 at 2:28 pm
A unique and very interesting waste collection system was proposed for a new Mississauga community, but likely won’t be coming to fruition.
The system, proposed for the developing Lakeview Village community, would have allowed residents to dispose of their waste via automated vacuums and a network of underground pipes.
According to a report by Kealy Dedman, Commissioner of Public Works, the system would collect garbage, recycling and organics from residential and commercial units as well as the community’s future school site.
Inlet points for waste collection would have also been provided in the waterfront community’s parks and public spaces.
“From the inlet points, material would be transported through a network of underground pipes to a central terminal. The central terminal was proposed to be located within the Sustainability Centre at Lakeview Village,” said the report.
“From the central terminal, the material would be loaded into bins for transport to existing processing and transfer facilities.”
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The system was proposed back in 2018. Lakeview Community Partners Ltd. worked with Peel Region and the city of Mississauga to plan its development and assess operating costs.
However, as of March 31, 2022, Lakeview Community Partners Ltd. decided to no longer pursue the automated vacuum waste collection system due to outstanding challenges and risks, including high operating costs.
“While the vacuum waste system could have provided a higher level of service and could have provided local community and environmental benefits to the Lakeview Village community, it proposed to do so at a significantly higher capital and operating costs to all stakeholders than a conventional waste collection,” according to the report.
The report says Region staff is committed to working with the city and partners to determine if alternative waste collection practices could be advanced in the Lakeview Village community to realize some of the same local and environmental benefits that a vacuum waste system could’ve provided, such as implementing organic waste collection and alternative parks waste bins.
While it looks like Lakeview Village will have to do without a cool and futuristic waste collection system, the new community still has quite a few other things going for it — like its massive size of 177 acres of prime lakeside real estate.
The mixed-use waterfront development, to be built out over the next 15-20 years, is expected to bring 8,050 new homes and 9,000 new long-term jobs to Mississauga.
The plan calls for five per cent of the new homes, or about 400 units, to be affordable housing.
Lakeview Community Partners Ltd. says the new community will also feature a state-of-the-art innovation district that aims to become “the largest hub for technology, innovation and research in Canada.”
The community is being built on the land formerly occupied by the iconic Four Sisters: The four huge chimneys that comprised part of the old Lakeview Generating Station before being demolished on June 12, 2006.
“I think we all agree this is very transformational for our city. We are building on what was brownfield, and creating something extremely cutting edge, sustainable, beautiful…with the community’s input,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie.
Crombie noted that she’d like to see more affordable housing units in the community but says the city doesn’t have the leverage to negotiate for more.
With files from Declan Finucane
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