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stouflvillesuntribunem thursday june 22 2006 3 is incinerating garbage in our future politicians decide today staff photosjoerd witteveen a garbage truck drops its waste on the floor of an incineration plant in peel region such a plant could be coming to york pro by mario ferri the regions solid waste manage ment committee adopted a resolu tion june 7 selecting thermal treat ment incineration or a similar technology to manage waste that cannot be recycled or composted the resolution also called for recovery of energy from waste as part of the thermal process the resolution was put forward after months of study and public consultation as part of a joint envi ronmental assessment project with durham region york and durham ship more than 350000 tonnes of waste to landfills in ontario and michigan annually this is a shortterm solution that is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain by reducing reusing and recycling york and durham have diverted about onethird of their waste from landfill its a good start but it does not go far enough after public consultation ses sions it has become clear residents do not see landfills as a viable option and want to increase recycling efforts as a result york and durham will push for a minimum standard of 60 per cent diversion by 2008 through increased reuse programs blue box programs and green bin composting efforts these efforts were confirmed recently by an ipsosreid poll con ducted as part of the waste study in addition to enhancing landfill diver sion the polling showed 84 per cent of residents supported thermal tech nologies such as incineration even if it meant locating a facility locally this support demonstrates a clear shift in our social mindset from the economic convenience of landfilling garbage to a more social ly responsible longterm and sus tainable means of managing waste when incinerators first appeared in the 1970s the technology was in its infancy emissions were too high and government standards were rel atively lax this is no longer the case today incinerators and odier thermal technologies have extreme ly low emissions far lower in fact than emissions produced by land fills additionally the ministry of the environment has set strict emission standards ensuring public health remains a paramount priority york region and its partners are committed to an open dialogue with residents to ensure community and environmental needs are part of the waste management process if the recommendations of the durham york residual waste study are approved by both regional coun cils public consultation sessions will be scheduled this fall to discuss site plans for a thermal treannent facility all of the documents as well as the residual waste study timeline are posted online at wwwdurham yorkwastcca mario ferri incineration makes sense politician says regional politicians meet today to decide whether to accept a pro posal to build an incineration facil ity to deal with your garbage two experts regional coun cillor mario ferri chairperson of the regions solid waste management committee and gloria marsh pres ident of the york region environ mental alliance weigh in on the pros and cons of the debate gloria marsh reduce reuse better environmentalist says con by gloria marsh york region seeking a solution to our waste problem by and large only came up with one option in all its many variations incineration during a public meeting a resi dent mentioned thinking outside the box is required the alliance doesnt believe swapping landfill for incineration is doing that selling incineration as a means of producing cleaner energy than coal also does not impress com pare instead energy produced by incineration to energy produced by wind power and you get a much nastier picture the alliance maintains far too little has been done in the reduce part of the 3 rs with regards to excess packaging of all kinds it is mind boggling to think of how much garbage is generated by one food court in one shopping centre in one day greenhouse gas emissions are just as harmful if not more so than smoking it is a simple matter of a bylaw if we make a concerted effort to reduce it will also cost us less by not having to deal with waste in the first place although the region has put for ward a commendable option for a diversion increase to 75 per cent we could easily reach 90 per cent if a concerted effort was put into finding imaginative solutions to deal with the garbage generated by apartment and highrise condo buildings shopping centres busi nesses and institutions anticipated greenhouse gas emissions from incinerator smoke stacks are said to be within provin- cial standards but there has been no thought given to the cumulative effect of at least four other proposed incinerators in southern ontario the impact of incineration on global warming or the impact on human health we are well into our smog adviso ry days the potential for such days year round once we have our smoke stack with associated health prob lems are very real as is the impact of 15500 tonnes of hazardous waste left after incineration that would need to be landfilled annually keeping the incineration mon ster fed would discourage expanded recycling initiatives and expanding our recycling to a 90 per cent goal is the only logical way to mitigate cli mate change and do away with the need for incinerators all together lateral rather than linear think ing will be required for this but the health of our environment and our communities calls for creative prob lem solving regarding our garbage there has been no thought by the region put into any solution other than incineration 5 twiiiwvmmfihiiwwiffimii r dune 23 duly s 2006 kids zone fun fun saturday july 1st crayon colouring station enter to win strawberry face painting centre miss daisys animal balloons magic fishing pond bouncing corral builders lego station miniputt 6 holes dunk tank water balloon competition bubble competition bubble gum blowing 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