Editorials
June 26, 2008 12:39 AM
York Region has become a victim of its own quest to recycle as much as possible. Now it turns out a third of the organic waste we separate at source is being trucked to Niagara Falls, New York, to be incinerated.
The region says this is only a temporary measure until a new processing plant opens near London, Ont.
But, in the meantime, it is disappointing to think so much effort is going into separating table scraps and dog doo from the waste stream, only to have it end up as something we burn in an incinerator -— burn having become a four-letter word among environmentalists and, one might argue, a fairly large segment of the general public.
How did we get in this predicament?
When York Region started its green bin program, it wanted to make it user-friendly while diverting as much waste as possible.
Technology exists to process green bin waste that includes diapers, cat litter and pet waste, items York allowed in its green bin program not accepted in other municipalities. You are also allowed to collect your green bin material in plastic bags.
There are very ambitious targets for diverting waste from landfill and allowing as many recyclables as possible helped meet those goals.
The problem is only a select number of facilities are able to process such waste.
When Quebec’s Ministry of the Environment shut facilities over complaints about health and odours, York Region was left scrambling to find a firm to take about one-third of its green bin materials.
What they found was a company in New York that incinerates your potato peelings and uneaten leftovers and turns it into power and charges the region about half what the Quebec plant charged.
Is this where you thought your green bin waste — at least part of it — was going? Probably not.
The region’s website says the material is composted and used for agricultural and horticultural use, as well as land reclamation projects, erosion control “and more”. Perhaps incineration falls under “more”.
The region says it would rather produce energy from waste than contribute to landfill, but it is not clear the public agrees.
The region ensures us the plant in London will fix things, but with more municipalities starting green bin programs, we wonder if there will ever be enough capacity.
If incineration is to remain an option whenever there is a processing problem, a public that is skeptical about incineration and its effect on our air, needs to be consulted.