Stratford residents push back on potential glass manufacturing facility

Concerns raised over proposed glass plant From CTV Kitchener’s Carmen Wong: Some Stratford residents are raising environmental concerns about a proposed glass plant.

STRATFORD — As Chinese glass company Xinyi looks to develop a new manufacturing facility in Stratford, some residents are pushing back.

The $400 million plant has been proposed for south Stratford. Carmen Grant lives nearby and is raising concerns about its environmental impact.

“Air quality, our water supply, and our soil quality,” she said. “Environmentally sound practices are the only way forward.”

Xinyi Canada Glass will use over one million litres of water a day. The City of Stratford says they are currently using only 31 per cent of their total water supply and the facility would increase that by eight per cent.

Chris Pidgeon, the lead consultant for the project, says the water they use will be recycled.

“The water is predominantly used for cooling and they use that water over and over again,” he said.

Pidgeon adds that any wastewater discharge will go to the city’s treatment plant and these standards meet Stratford’s sewer bylaw.

When it comes to the air, the consultant says most of the emissions will be steam from water, the other emissions is natural gas burning.

The company will also surpass Ontario’s current air quality standards and environmental regulations by using solar energy and heat recovery for electricity, according to Pidgeon.

“Five different ministries have been involved vetting this process,” said Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson. “Normally there would be a public process when the land would have been rezoned, but that’s not the case in this piece because of the minister’s zoning order.”

The public is invited to a special city council meeting on Monday to speak on the development.

“People need the time to really look at this and understand what’s going on,” said Stratford resident Sharon Collingwood.

Xinyi’s construction proposal can be found below, with production at full capacity expected by 2024.