Wilderness Committee and Zero Waste BC applaud New Eyes on Metro Waste Management Committee
Friday, January 22, 2010
Groups working to stop the construction of new waste incineration facilities in Metro Vancouver were pleased to learn about a major change in leadership in Metro Vancouver’s Waste Management Committee.
Under the direction of former Chair Marvin Hunt, Metro Vancouver’s Waste Committee had been proposing to build new waste incinerators in the region.
“This shake up of the Metro Vancouver Waste Management Committee could be a step in the right direction. Metro Vancouver’s chairperson Lois Jackson said she was making the change to bring fresh eyes to this controversial issue. We think that is a good idea because burning garbage is just the wrong way to go,” said Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner with the Wilderness Committee.
“If a 3-fold increase in incineration is allowed, ‘waste to energy’ plants would become a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, comparable in size to the coal-burning cement plant in Richmond which is the second highest single-point source of carbon dioxide emissions in the lower mainland,” said Dr. Elaine Golds, a retired scientist and Port Moody resident from Zero Waste BC, who opposes increased waste incineration in Metro Vancouver because of carbon dioxide emissions.
Members of Zero Waste BC worked with local residents in Port Moody to stop a proposed Plasco garbage gasification facility in 2008. The company backed away after intense community opposition. Port Moody recently implemented a waste management program similar to Port Coquitlam’s. As a consequence, some neighborhoods in Port Moody have already achieved a waste diversion rate of approximately 60%. Metro Vancouver has proposed the region should work towards achieving a 70% diversion rate by 2015.
“The focus of waste management should be on reduction, and then working towards achieving as high a diversion rate as possible. Instead, Metro Vancouver aimed low with a goal to achieve only a 70% diversion rate by 2015, and has allowed the waste management discussion to get stalled in a dead end debate over increased incineration or landfilling. New leadership was needed, and hopefully now they will move forward with zero waste planning,” said West.
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For more information please contact: Dr. Elaine Golds, Zerowastebc.org, 604-937-3483;
Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner, Wilderness Committee, 604-710-534
“This shake up of the Metro Vancouver Waste Management Committee could be a step in the right direction. Metro Vancouver’s chairperson Lois Jackson said she was making the change to bring fresh eyes to this controversial issue. We think that is a good idea because burning garbage is just the wrong way to go,” said Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner with the Wilderness Committee.
“If a 3-fold increase in incineration is allowed, ‘waste to energy’ plants would become a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, comparable in size to the coal-burning cement plant in Richmond which is the second highest single-point source of carbon dioxide emissions in the lower mainland,” said Dr. Elaine Golds, a retired scientist and Port Moody resident from Zero Waste BC, who opposes increased waste incineration in Metro Vancouver because of carbon dioxide emissions.
Members of Zero Waste BC worked with local residents in Port Moody to stop a proposed Plasco garbage gasification facility in 2008. The company backed away after intense community opposition. Port Moody recently implemented a waste management program similar to Port Coquitlam’s. As a consequence, some neighborhoods in Port Moody have already achieved a waste diversion rate of approximately 60%. Metro Vancouver has proposed the region should work towards achieving a 70% diversion rate by 2015.
“The focus of waste management should be on reduction, and then working towards achieving as high a diversion rate as possible. Instead, Metro Vancouver aimed low with a goal to achieve only a 70% diversion rate by 2015, and has allowed the waste management discussion to get stalled in a dead end debate over increased incineration or landfilling. New leadership was needed, and hopefully now they will move forward with zero waste planning,” said West.
-30-
For more information please contact: Dr. Elaine Golds, Zerowastebc.org, 604-937-3483;
Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner, Wilderness Committee, 604-710-534