Ambient air quality is not a concern when choosing a waste management system, according to a report prepared for Metro Vancouver.

The municipal federation held a round table yesterday in downtown Vancouver. The study, based on existing models for solid waste disposal, including combinations of mechanical biological treatment, landfill and incineration, was weighed as potential solutions to the region's garbage problem.

"Future emissions are less or comparable to today," said Roger Quan, air quality planning division manager for Metro Vancouver, of models projecting waste-to-energy incineration by the year 2020.

Wilderness Committee campaigner Ben West is concerned about the health implications of such facilities.

"We're getting this kind of sales pitch telling us ... there's zero impacts but the reality of what we've seen from around the world is that many of these facilities generate dangerous levels of dixoins and other emissions," he said.

However, Prof. Jim Bridges, chair of and EU scientific community on health risks said cooking food on a barbecue for two hours results in a higher dioxin exposure than being near an incinerator for several years.

Another round of consultation on the draft solid waste plan is scheduled for later this year.