Metro Vancouver directors will vote today on the proposal to build a new waste incinerator to burn the region’s garbage.

Various options are being considered, included building a new incinerator in the region or the barging of waste to Vancouver Island to be incinerated there.  The proposed Gold River facility on Vancouver Island may pursue importing waste to run their incinerator even if they don't get the contract to incinerate Metro Vancouver's waste.  Incinerators have recently been proposed and then abandoned because of community opposition in Kamloops and Christina Lake.

The Wilderness Committee has worked with community members across BC to raise awareness of the potential for incineration to release dioxins and other harmful toxins into our air, and the potential for waste incineration to become one of the largest single point sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the province.

"We are very concerned about the potential impact of waste incinerator and the false claims that are made about them," said Ben West, Healthy Communities Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. "We are optimistic that directors will do the right thing and vote against building more toxin spewing incinerators in region but it is possible they might support an out of region alternative. We want to make it clear: we are opposed to incineration anywhere in the province, not just in Metro Vancouver,” said West. “We will fight to stop these garbage burning facilities wherever they are proposed."

The recent public consultation on incineration in the Metro Vancouver region resulted in more than 60% of written submissions showing strong opposition to the current proposal. Furthermore, a number of organizations have come out against the Metro Vancouver proposal, including the Vancouver Board of Trade, the Vancouver and District Labour Council, the Fraser Valley Regional District and the national cancer prevention organization Prevent Cancer Now. A letter to the Climate Action Secretariat in 2008, signed by environmental groups including the David Suzuki Foundation, the BC Sustainable Energy Association and the Pembina Institute, recommended to the provincial government that the incineration of waste should not be allowed due to climate and health concerns.

"There is strong opposition to incineration from groups and individuals from all ends of the spectrum. It seems to me that Metro Vancouver directors should listen to the wishes of area residents and community groups and say no to incineration" said West. "If they decide to go ahead with an incinerator either in Metro Vancouver or elsewhere out of region, they better be ready for a fight. If a community is actually selected for one of these nasty facilities, this campaign will really heat up," said West.

For more information please contact:

Ben West, Wilderness Committee Healthy Communities Campaigner, 604-710-5340