Southgate Township doesn't want Toronto's trash after all.

The seven-member township council voted 4-3 to shelve the idea of opening a landfill for the city's garbage, after a heated meeting in the council chamber packed with about 50 residents.

The meeting, in the township offices in Hopeville, west of Dundalk, ended with a tearful plea from resident Pam Walker for the politicians to back off.

"We have a beautiful community here," Walker said of the township, which is about 40 kilometres northwest of Orangeville.

"I really think that this is not how we see rural Ontario, as a dumping ground for other communities. This is not a step forward. This is a step backward."

Said Deputy Mayor Ken Harrison: "Toronto's garbage is not our problem, there has to be some other way for us to find the monies we need without taking on someone else's problems."

Harrison, who voted against the motion, said it had been taken for granted that all councillors supported the idea of opening a giant landfill. That was a mistake, he said. "I wasn't in favour of it from the beginning."

Toronto ships 120 truckloads of garbage daily to a Michigan landfill and would like to find something closer to home. Southgate Township had been exploring the idea of developing a dump site with landfill operator Republic Services Inc., which operates the Michigan landfill used by Toronto.

Mayor Don Lewis had said a large landfill would generate lucrative fees for the 7,000-resident municipality, money that could pay for much needed work on community assets like the library and arena.

But Lewis said yesterday he's learned residents may be more willing than he thought to pay higher taxes rather than accept a large landfill, which would employ 30 to 50 people.

Although Lewis was one of the three members of council who supported a motion to continue working with Michigan-based Republic to try to determine if the township was a suitable location for the 300-hectare landfill, he said he wasn't surprised the motion was defeated.

"The reaction was overwhelming, and council members felt they got clear direction that our residents are prepared to survive without the bucks that this could have brought into the municipality," Lewis said.

The notion that a landfill means big bucks is illusory, because its presence would discourage new taxpaying residents, said local businessman Vitold Kreutzer.

"Who wants to move into an area where there's a major dump? This will become a major ghost area," said Kreutzer, who runs an organic bakery.

Toronto Councillor Jane Pitfield wasn't surprised by Southgate's decision. "I don't think they understood what a political hot potato it was," said Pitfield, who chairs the works committee, responsible for garbage disposal.

Toronto is expected to ship about 800,000 tonnes of garbage this year to Michigan but hopes to sharply reduce that in years ahead through composting programs. So, by the time Southgate won environmental approval for a landfill, which could take five years, Toronto might not have enough trash to ensure a financial windfall for the township, Pitfield said.

"There are no guarantees we'd even be able to send them sufficient volumes," she said. "I think they made the right decision."

At yesterday's meeting, only John Lovell, a citizen member of the township's economic development committee, spoke in favour of a landfill.

"It's time to wake up and take care of your own solid waste," said Lovell, who in early November toured the Michigan landfill used by Toronto.

"We have a large area, low population and numerous blocks of farmland that is marginal," he said in an interview. "Some of it hasn't been utilized for many years."

A landfill would require about 400 hectares — about 160 hectares of disposal area and the rest as a buffer — said Matt Neely, a representative of Republic Services Inc., who was invited by council to attend the meeting.

Neely said the company, which operates 59 landfills — none in Ontario — uses a clay liner topped by a high density polyethylene membrane to ensure toxic fluids don't leak into groundwater.

He said the membrane, made of the same material as plastic milk jugs, has performed well for Republic.

But residents said they don't believe there is a safe site in the township, which is home to the headwaters of the Grand and Saugeen river systems.

"What about the people 50 years from now, 100 years from now?" said John Marino. "There's no guarantee."