Baseball scouts eye Festival of Dance

pro prospects in pictures

page 31 page 35

Friday
April 30, 2010
Serving Surrey and North Delta
www.surreyleader.com

Surrey
SHOULD METRO VANCOUVER’S garbage be buried,
burned or better recycled? Can incineration turn waste
into valuable energy? After decades of dumping trash
in the B.C. Interior, is it acceptable to truck it inland, to
Metro’s school
Vancouver Island or even to the U.S.? Could we dramati-
cally increase our current recycling rates?
A Black Press special series on the region’s waste man-
agement plans will explore these and other issues in the
weeks ahead.
burning staff cut,
shuffled to
by Jeff Nagel
question save $12M
M
etro Vancouver claims a new garbage incin-
erator can be built here that would create no
net increase in air pollution in the sensitive Specialty teachers
Fraser Valley.
and constrained airshed downwind in the Could a new waste incinerator will be shifted to
It’s the region’s preferred solution to dispose of waste that
can’t otherwise be recycled or diverted, in part because the
actually reduce air pollution? regular classrooms
electricity and heat generated could be worth hundreds of
millions of dollars over the long run. by Sheila Reynolds
Burning garbage without creating more pollution at first
glance seems implausible, and will be hotly disputed when DESPITE THE fact there will be nearly
the proposed solid waste management plan goes to public 1,300 new students entering Surrey
hearings next month. schools in the fall, the district is plan-
But Metro says the new waste-to- ning on hiring just five new teachers in
TRASH energy plant would pipe steam or
hot water to a nearby cluster of other
the coming school year.
“This is considerably below the

TALK buildings or industries, eliminating

the need for them to have their own
boilers burning fuel.
The idea is not outlandish to
experts – even those critical of Met-
ro’s incineration plans – who agree
it’s likely emissions avoided through
district heating could offset much of
the smog-producing contaminants
from burning garbage. Numerous
waste-to-energy plants operate that
way in Europe, in the heart of cities
like Paris and Copenhagen.
A Black Press The local model is Metro’s existing
special series Waste-To-Energy Facility in south
examines Burnaby. Besides generating electric-
the issues ity for BC Hydro, it captures residual
surrounding the heat that is turned into steam and
region’s waste piped next door to power the adja-
management cent Norampac paper mill, which no
plans longer burns natural gas.
“Those are avoided emissions,”
said Metro planner Ken Carrusca.
“There’s no fiction here.”
It’s not an ideal scenario, however. The mill has struggled
in recent years, shutting down two of three lines, so Metro’s
burner sells only one-third as much steam as before.
See INCINERATION / Page 4
staffing increase that would be in place
if we were able to maintain the current
service levels,” Supt. Mike McKay
wrote in a staff memo earlier this
month about the district’s “difficult”
operating budget
decisions as it
addresses an antici-
pated $12.3-million
shortfall.
Instead of
hiring dozens of
additional new
teachers, existing
specialist teachers
such as counsellors, Mike McKay
librarians, career
educators and members of learner
support teams will be brought out of
their specialty areas and “reassigned”
as classroom teachers.
According to the Surrey Teachers’
Association (STA), the shifting of
teachers will result in 10 fewer counsel-
lors, eight fewer teacher-librarians
MARIO BARTEL / BLACK PRESS
and 13 fewer learner support team
A garbage truck enters Burnaby’s waste-to-energy incinerator. Metro
Vancouver is exploring the idea of building more such facilities as teachers.
part of its regional trash management plan. The staff shuffles are estimated to
See STA / Page 3

Editorial 6 Letters 7 Sports 31 Arts 35 People 38 Classifieds 41 Save time, save money.

Tuesday, One or
Two’s better than one. CLOVA CINEMA Fri, Apr 30 - Thur, May 6 $
4 Kids &
Matinées
$
7 Both
Shows

With our two Surrey locations, including our GET A FREE

new one on 128th at 84th, you now have N .W
. . .O P
. . . .LA
. Y. . . .
IN . REMEMBER ME ....7:00 pm MEDIUM POPCORN

double the quality, service and Air Miles® . . . . . . . . . . . . .G. . .

.
BY BRINGING
THIS AD TO
.
reward miles. So don’t think twice. Call us first. HOT TUB TIME A MOVIE THIS
WEEK

5732 176 St. Cloverdale MACHINE ....................... 9:10 pm


MPDBUJPOT

UI
4U



t

UI
4U




DSBGUTNBODPMMJTJPODPN Showline 604-574-1114
4 Friday April 30 2010
Incineration: Just
how toxic is it?
The waste-to-energy incinerator in Burnaby feeds electricity into the power grid, as well as providing energy to a nearby paper plant.
From page 1
A new waste incinerator optimally placed in the
centre of a new development – perhaps a group of
office and condo towers in Surrey’s transforming
City Centre – could make better and more efficient
use of the heat generated.
But Metro’s numbers on offsetting emissions are
fraught with uncertainty.
Metro assumes 50 to 90 per cent of the potential
heat can be sold.
KPMG consultant Paul Levelton questions
whether district heating partners could be found
to take that much heat, in which case, the offsetting
equations must be
downgraded.
Nobody yet knows
where the plant would
be built, or indeed if
there would be one
large or multiple
smaller burners – a
scenario that enhances
advantages from
district heating but at
higher capital costs.
And heating build-
ings instead of power- Dr. Ian McKendry
ing an industry could
mean less demand in
summer.
“You would be able to offset the emissions, but
the question is how much,” said Jeffrey Morris, an
environmental economist with Sound Resource
Management Group in Olympia, Wash.
“Is there a market? And is there a district heating
system set up? That’s a big question that they haven’t
focused on in their analysis.”
Subtracting, not adding?
METRO’S PLAN envisions a 500,000-tonne-per-year
incinerator, nearly twice the size of the existing one,
using newer European-style wet scrubbing technol-
ogy that reduces measurable emissions.
For fine particulate, Metro consultants – using
emission rates from a more modern burner in Swe-
den that Metro’s new incinerator will be modelled
after – forecast such a plant would emit 4.6 tonnes
per year.
Metro estimates the avoided emissions through
district heating would reduce the net fine particulate
emissions to -2.4 tonnes per year – the air would be
cleaner by that measure than if the incinerator is not
built.
The current Burnaby incinerator releases about
seven tonnes of fine particulate a year, which Metro
counts as a net release of four tonnes after the paper
mill’s avoided emissions are considered. The region’s
airshed receives 7,000 tonnes of fine particulate a
Surrey North Delta Leader
MARIO BARTEL / BLACK PRESS
year, much of it from cars, although there are 37 nants, which were within regulatory levels.
other industries in the region that release more than Despite recommendations by the consultants for
the Burnaby incinerator.
Metro calculates the avoided emissions from dis-
ongoing testing, a panel that included federal and
provincial government officials concluded that was Metro’s
trict heating would also make the new incinerator’s
net release of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile
unnecessary.
There have been no further soil tests for nearly two
solid
organic compounds (VOCs) a net subtraction rather decades. waste
than an addition – although 7.5 tonnes of ammonia The stack tests, performed three times a year
would be added to the air because it’s injected into by consultants to provincial specifications, show plan:
the wet scrubbing system. the existing Metro incinerator emits about 1.5
Such comparisons do not take into account the milligrams of dioxins and furans per year and 2.6 • Divert 70 per
cent of waste by
other emissions an incinerator would create, which kilograms of mercury.
aren’t generated by natural gas heating. Cement plants in Delta and Richmond both first reducing,
recycling,
Dr. Ian McKendry, a UBC atmospheric scientist released significantly more
who penned a report for the Fraser Valley Regional mercury in 2008, accord- composting
more materials,
District, conceded Metro may be partly right about ing to federal pollution
the avoided emissions. database reports, and 10 to particularly
organics and
But he recommended against building an incin- 30 times as much dioxin.
erator – or any other new sources – that might add But the incinerator’s food waste.
Push province
contaminants to the unique airshed, which funnels emissions of such sub-
and concentrates pollutants not just from Metro stances are still higher than to mandate
more take-
Vancouver but also northwestern Washington State. a power station burning
“We have to be very careful because of the sensi- cleaner natural gas. back programs
requiring business
tivity of this airshed,” he said, adding a precautionary “Different pollutants
approach should prevail if there’s any uncertainty. are generated in different to recover
packaging
He sees a need to reduce local emission sources amounts by those two dif-
because more pollutants are expected to drift here ferent fuels,” notes Morris. and discarded
Dr. Perry Kendall products.
from as far away as Asia. A review of the emission
McKendry said Metro also treats the emissions records for the Burnaby
as if they can be spread uniformly across the Lower incinerator shows it has • Build an
in-region
Mainland, when the reality is they will be concen- become cleaner over the past 22 years, as a result of
trated wherever the smoke plume blows. nearly $100 million Metro has spent on upgrades to incinerator to
replace the
“You can have very, very high impacts locally,” he boost energy generation and reduce pollution.
said, particularly within 10 kilometres. Stack tests show particulates in every cubic metre 500,000 tonnes
per year now
of emissions released are 85 per cent below the levels
Cancer from above of the initial years. Nitrogen oxides are down 25 being sent to
the Cache Creek
per cent, sulphur dioxides have been cut in half and
SEPARATE FROM whether residents choke on smog mercury levels are down 90 per cent. landfill.
is the question of whether they’ll be stricken by Some critics question whether the Metro readings
cancer and other illness triggered by the assortment are credible. • If an in-region
of toxins emitted from burning garbage. They point out the waste-to-energy plant’s stack incinerator can’t
emissions are only continuously tested for certain be built, pursue
“The fundamental issue here is the discomfort
people have with the toxic substances that are emit- emissions, and not dioxin or mercury. an out-of-region
And burners in some areas belch out worse toxins one, such as the
ted from these things,” McKendry said.
Dioxins and furans are highly toxic and persistent, in “upset conditions,” when poorer burning materi- one planned
als are in the chamber. The Burnaby plant’s policy is at Gold River
so they can bio-accumulate in the food chain and,
ultimately, human bodies. to burn natural gas at such times to ensure tempera- on Vancouver
tures remain high enough to destroy most toxins. Island by Covanta
They’re created mainly from burning PVC vinyl,
found in a multitude of products that end up in the Metro says a more detailed assessment of possible Energy.
contamination and human health risks would come,
garbage, from food bottles to building materials.
They, along with metals like mercury and cadmium, if the plan is approved, when a specific project is • If neither waste-
identified and undergoes an environmental assess- to-energy option
can cause various cancers and birth defects.
Soil and plant tests carried out for two years before ment. is possible, pursue
out-of-region
and after the Burnaby incinerator was built detected
higher readings of some metals like cadmium at test Nanoparticles a concern landfilling, likely
a major expansion
sites in Richmond, North Delta and Burnaby, and
fluoride in some blueberry and cranberry crops. ONTARIO’S ENVIRONMENT minister heard many of the Cache
Creek landfill.
Researchers concluded there was no evidence of the same objections before recently overruling
directly linking the incinerator to the soil contami- See GARBAGE / Page 10
10 Friday April 30 2010 Surrey North Delta Leader

Pool & View Population growth

PRICE REDUCED!
OPEN SUN
1-4 PM Bolivar Heights
Beauty. One Owner.
fuels air pollution
by Jeff Nagel from 15,000 to 20,000 homes, not
Immaculate family counting the new residents’ transporta-
home with fully A NEW incinerator isn’t the only way the tion emissions.
finished basement, Lower Mainland’s air is changing. But officials say that after avoided
20’ x 40’ inground More people are moving to the Lower emissions are counted, the new
Mainland and each new home built waste-to-energy facility would remove
heated pool - 9’ adds more emissions to the airshed. emissions equivalent of 7,000 to 70,000
deep. Separate Metro Vancouver’s population is homes, depending on the pollutant.
workshop. Lots of projected to swell by 1.2 million or 50 Despite the growing population,
updating and extras. per cent over the next three decades. It’s air quality in the region has generally
estimated 574,000 new homes will be improved in recent decades. A 2005
Asking $469,900. needed. regional emissions inventory projects
11429 - 140 Street Metro estimates the stack emissions
from the new waste incinerator would
smog-forming pollutants will continue
to decline to 2020.
be equivalent to the heating emissions
Paul Northey 604.581.3838 jnagel@surreyleader.com

Royal LePage Coronation Realty 604.542.2991

Garbage: A mixed bag
New S – not like any other fuel
HOFRMOME
Sullivan From page 4 particles that come out mone and reproductive

Plateau
of these,” he said in an disruptions in various
them and approving interview from Col- species.

$ 589,90
0 a controversial waste
incinerator for the prov-
eraine, England.
Howard is a leading
Part of the problem is
garbage isn’t like other
ince’s Durham region. researcher in the emerg- fuel – it’s literally a
OPEN DAILY The region’s health
officer concluded health
ing field of
nanoparticles
mixed bag.
“You don’t
– extremely know what
1-4 PM EXCEPT MONDAYS
AND FRIDAYS
risks were minimal and
acceptable. fine particu-
late less than
NEXT you’re going
to be tipping
Show H
Ho
Home
ome a
att 1
14917
4917 6
61A
1A A
Ave,
ve, S
Surrey
urrey
Health Canada and
British health authorities a thousandth FRIDAY in from one
have likewise concluded
health risks are low.
the width of a
human hair.
IN THE minute to the
next,” How-
B.C. provincial health While LEADER: ard said.
officer Dr. Perry Kendall scrubbers are The waste
said he has no concerns “quite good” stream has
eft! about Metro’s waste-to- at removing Dumping become more
L D 4 L
0 ) energy strategy, either. larger par- at Cache complex over
6 SO May 15, 201 “There are technolo- ticulate, he
Creek –
the years as

(Read
y by ST! ! gies that can remove any says they can’t manufactur-

th e H of the health risks,” Ken- stop ultrafine

Back to the ers invent

Beat
Executive Family Homes
• 2-Level plus Basement
• 4 Bedrooms, 4 Bathrooms
• Fully-finished Walkout Basement
• Hardwood Floors
• Granite Counter Tops
• Undermount Sinks
Jim Rhoda 604.290.2319
Built by Exclusive Homes
National Home Warranty
OUR FEATURE STORY
dall said. “If you’re doing
it right, you shouldn’t be
getting anything harm-
ful. You’re getting water
vapour and carbon diox-
ide. Anything else can
be scrubbed out, gasified
featuring:
and buried.”
In fact, the best-in-
• High Ceilings class incinerators in
Europe still produce
• Luxury Ensuite
some emissions,
• Upscale Neighbourhood although far less than the
• Excellent Schools (1 blk) burners of the past.
• YMCA, Shopping Nearby But British toxicologist
• Easy Freeway Access Dr. Vyvyan Howard is
concerned about con-
taminants from incinera-
tors that can’t presently
be measured.
“There’s a plume
Prices subject to change without notice Sutton • Premier Realty of very fine ultrafine
particles, so
small they
pass directly
future?
into the
bloodstream.
Because
of their minute size,
nanoparticles collectively
have more surface area,
increasing their toxicity.
Too little is known
yet about their health
impacts, said Howard,
who urges authorities
to err on the side of
caution and reject incin-
eration.
Also of growing
concern are brominated
compounds, such as
PBDE, that are used in
flame retardants and
have been linked to hor-
and use more
synthetic
materials.
Further
effort to
divert organ-
ics, paper, cardboard,
and other recyclables
could leave behind a
greater proportion of
plastics and synthetics
than in past decades – a
fuel supply that may be
harder to burn cleanly.
Nor should residents
conclude metals and
other toxins would drop
out of the air close to the
incinerator and not con-
taminate more distant
neighbourhoods.
“We’ve got data show-
ing uranium dust from
the Middle East during
the Gulf War travelled

Great Burger Bargain

THE as far as the United
ALL POUND
FEATURING
Kingdom,” Howard said.
PANTRY DELUXE BURGER
“Many of the organic

TASTEBUD STIMULUS PACKAGE

CRACKED PEPPER
& BACON BURGER BURGERS compounds also travel
long distances.”
BACON & CHEDDAR BURGER NOW JUST Food crops are at par-

$
8 99
THREE ALARM WITH ticular risk, he said.
ur taste-bud stimulus package is MUSHROOM PROVOLONE
COLESLAW & The Fraser Valley,
BURGER
designed to expand your buying EACH one of Canada’s most
ENDLESS FRIES
power and satisfy your hunger. PLUS
productive tracts of
EXPERIENCE IMMEDIATE RESULTS! BRUSCHETTA FETA
CHICKEN BURGER UPSIZE TO arable farmland, would
CRISPY CHICKEN BURGER A MASSIVE HURRY IN be directly downwind.
THE PANTRY GREAT “These compounds,
AMAZING
POUND BURGER BARGAIN IS
ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL once they get into any
PANTRY ½ LB DELUXE
½ LB WESTERN STYLE
BURGER MAY 16, 2010 AT
BC LOCATIONS. ecosystem, are going to
come back to us via our
BBQ BURGER
1
JUST $ MORE WWW.THEPANTRY.CA
food.”
jnagel@surreyleader.com
12 Friday May 7 2010 Surrey North Delta Leader

WASTE LAND
An expanded Cache Creek landfill is pitched as a green garbage solution
Is landfilling a waste of
valuable resources or does it
provide an acceptable way to
dispose of garbage while Metro
Vancouver strives to increase
recycling? This second
installment in a Black Press
series on waste management
looks at the Cache Creek land-
fill and its long-term potential.

by Jeff Nagel

T
he arid sagebrush hills of the
Fraser Canyon country have
long been a dumping ground for
Metro Vancouver’s garbage.
Since 1989, a fleet of diesel trucks has
hauled growing loads of Metro’s waste
325 kilometres east to the Cache Creek
regional landfill.
The dry climate means less rain flows
through the garbage and less toxic
leachate forms – a key advantage over the
Vancouver Landfill in Delta.
And the locals, for the most part, don’t
complain – 120 waste-handling jobs
there buoy the local economy.
“The mood has always been very sup-
portive,” says Cache Creek Mayor John
Ranta. “We’d like to enhance the commu-
nity stability by keeping those jobs.”
His village is a partner in the plan to
create a large new landfill, next to the
existing nearly full dump, that could
continue taking Lower Mainland garbage
for up to 25 more years.
Metro officials once pursued the
same strategy. They first tried to expand
the Cache Creek landfill in the 1990s
to make room for future waste. But
aboriginal opponents, armed with new
legal precedents, prompted the region to
drop that site and in 2000 buy a ranch
near Ashcroft to transform into the next
regional landfill.
The cowboys and
cattle are still there
– the ranch keeps
running on Metro
taxpayer subsidies.
TRASH
But no garbage ever
arrived.
The province
TALK
refused to approve
the project after First
Nations threatened
legal action.
In January of
2008, after spending
$10 million and a
decade pursuing a
new Interior landfill,
Metro abandoned Part 2 of a Black
the idea and Press special
turned its sights to
a waste-to-energy series examining
incinerator to burn the issues
the nearly 500,000 surrounding the
tonnes of garbage region’s waste
per year now going management
to Cache Creek. plans
Since then, Ranta
and landfill operator
Belkorp Environ-
mental Services have done what Metro
could not – clear a provincial environ-
mental assessment and get a green light
to build the new dump.
They are still not clear of aboriginal
entanglements, however.
Chief Bob Pasco of the Nlaka’pamux
Nation Tribal Council has three different
court actions targeting the Cache Creek
landfill expansion.
The landfill proponents and environ-
BLACK PRESS PHOTO ment minister Barry Penner all but dis-
The town of Cache Creek, with the region’s landfill in the background (upper right). The mayor of Cache Creek wants to see miss Pasco – his home reserve is further
a large new landfill, created next to the existing nearly full dump, that could continue taking Lower Mainland garbage for up to
See CRAZY / Page 13
25 more years.
Surrey North Delta Leader
‘Crazy’: To ship trash
From page 12
away, closer to Ashcroft, and the
two closest bands have backed the
new landfill in exchange for jobs
and cash.
Research commissioned by the
tribal council also flagged possible
toxins coming from the landfill,
but the province and Metro refuted
those findings after conducting
their own study.
Costs a central issue
THE BIGGER fight is with Metro
Vancouver and its claims that a
new in-region incinerator would
be vastly cheaper for taxpayers,
thanks to the revenue generated
from selling electricity and heat.
Metro pegs the difference at
$1.5 billion over 35 years, based
on what it expects to pay to use
the new Cache Creek landfill
compared to its forecast that a new
waste-to-energy plant would break
even over the same period, even
after paying off Metro’s $470-mil-
lion capital investment.
“That does not seem to pass
the straight-face test for me,” says
Jeffrey Morris, an Olympia, Wash.-
based environmental economist.
He’s one of the critics who sus-
pects Metro’s calculations are too
generous for the waste-to-energy
scenario and too pessimistic on
landfill costs.
The incineration estimates
depend on getting more revenue
per tonne of garbage than the
current waste-to-energy facility
in Burnaby by locating the new
plant amid a cluster of buildings
or industries where there’s more
district heating potential.
A publicly owned incinerator
would have two big advantages
over private competitors – no
money is diverted to private
profits and Metro can access much
cheaper public sector borrowing.
Rising fuel prices in the decades
ahead are a major driver of the
equation, according to Metro
officials.
While the costs of the incinera-
tor would be fixed – and paid off
in 15 years – the revenues it would
generate would increase over time
with rising energy prices.
Conversely, the fuel to truck
waste to Cache Creek and operate
the required machinery there will
become ever more expensive as
energy prices rise, Metro main-
tains.
A KPMG analysis found Metro’s
estimated capital cost of a new
incinerator is low compared to
plants built elsewhere, particularly
considering it promises state-of-
the-art pollution controls.
The firm also concluded the cost
of the landfill and hauling waste to
it might total $1.2 billion over 35
Metro Vancouver disposes of 1.5 million tonnes of garbage
Where (after recycling and diversion) per year:
does the ■ 35% goes to Vancouver Landfill in Delta.
region’s ■ 27% goes to Cache Creek regional landfill.
garbage ■ 19% goes to Burnaby waste-to-energy incinerator.
go? ■ 19% goes to demolition/landclearing/construction landfills.
years, 20 per cent less
than Metro’s estimate.
Belkorp Environ-
mental president Ted
Rattray puts the costs
of landfilling at Cache
Creek even lower, at
$750 million over the
35 years.
“They simply
haven’t been able to
substantiate their
numbers,” he said.
One knock against Ted Rattray
waste-to-energy
plants is the high up-
front cost of building
them means there’s
pressure to feed them
as much as possible,
rather than reduce
garbage or recycle
more.
Jordan Best, a
policy analyst with
the Recycling Council
of B.C., says the same
situation can apply to
landfills, which often
David Suzuki
insist on the same
“put or pay” contracts.
Metro, for example,
was for years required to deliver
at least 200,000 tonnes of waste to
Cache Creek annually.
But Rattray has a ready answer,
pledging he wouldn’t insist on
minimum waste flows from Metro. gas grid or burning it as electricity.
“We’re not looking for long-term
put-or-pay from anybody,” he said. to philosophy.
It’s the sort of promise that
raises skeptical eyebrows at Metro
headquarters, where officials say
no such offer has been made.
Rattray also maintains the
landfill expansion will proceed
even if Metro doesn’t sign on
at all, because it’s likely to take
waste from the Fraser Valley and
Thompson Nicola regional dis-
tricts and possibly Van-
couver Island. (Ranta,
however, views Metro’s
waste as “integral” to the
expansion plan.)
A bridge to zero
waste LEADER:
RATTRAY SAID Belkorp
can simply build the
new landfill a small
section at a time, based
on demand, with little
outlay.
“The landfill option
provides you with that
flexibility, it doesn’t
demand a long-term
commitment on supply-
ing waste for the opera-
tion to be viable,” Rattray said.
That makes the landfill an ideal
interim solution, he argues, as
Metro pursues its primary waste
management goal of increasing
the recycling rate to 70 per cent
and beyond.
“The Cache Creek
landfill is a bridge to
the zero waste goal,”
he said.
Technically, the
landfill promises a
double composite
liner that uses layers
of both clay and
plastic to contain
leachate, which
would also be
regularly pumped
from the bottom to
the top, where it can
evaporate.
The landfill will be
required to capture
75 per cent of landfill
gas, methane that
forms from the rot-
ting garbage, and
which may decline
in the years ahead
as local cities collect
more organics to
turn into compost or
biofuel.
Belkorp aims to
convert the landfill
gas into a liquid natu-
ral gas to power its own trucks and
possibly other big rigs that could
stop there to refuel. Other options
under consideration include pro-
viding the gas to Terasen’s natural
For some, the debate boils down
“People should have to deal
with the garbage in their own
backyards,” David Suzuki,
Vancouver’s most famous envi-
ronmentalist, told Black Press last
month.
“It is absolutely crazy for
Ontario to ship their garbage to
Michigan or for Vancouver to ship
its garbage up to Cache Creek.
This is absolutely
unacceptable. It’s
NEXT crazy. We’ve got to
deal with it right here
FRIDAY where we generate it.”
Suzuki said
IN THE waste-to-energy
incineration could
be acceptable with
the right scrubbing
Waste technology – he envi-
sions “chemical sieves
options that you can blow the
effluent through” to
and bond to and remove
climate complex molecules
like dioxins.
change But he said the best
strategy is to reduce
garbage in the first
place, in part by forc-
ing business to take back all the
packaging that grossly inflates the
waste stream.
“We ought to make ‘disposable’
an obscene word.”
jnagel@surreyleader.com
Friday May 7 2010 13
A competitive field
Island incinerator ‘ready to go’
by Jeff Nagel Lyons says there’s also potential for
a new industrial user to locate at Gold
LANDFILLING A tonne of garbage is River and take residual heat.
the energy equivalent of burying a Gold River isn’t the only contender
barrel of oil in the ground. for Metro waste if the region is forced
That’s the rationale that New to pursue out-of-region disposal.
Jersey-based Covanta Energy believes The Roosevelt regional landfill in
will ultimately favour its proposed southern Washington State was eyed
waste-to-energy plant at a defunct as a short-term destination for Metro
pulp mill in Gold River, on the west waste until the provincial government
coast of Vancouver Island. said last summer it would ban out-of-
“We’re ready to go,” said Covanta province garbage exports.
vice-president Tom Lyons. “If we But despite the talk, the province
had a waste contract with Metro has passed no legislation and waste
Vancouver we could be in the ground from Whistler, Powell River and the
and under construction within six
Cowichan Valley continues to go to
months.”
the Roosevelt landfill.
Unlike Metro’s preferred in-region
The province okayed waste exports
incinerator, the Gold River plant
to the U.S. landfill by Powell River as
already has environmental approvals
recently as January, an approval that
in place and could be built in less than
has the dump’s operators wondering if
three years.
B.C.’s anti-export stance is shifting.
Garbage would be loaded at New
Competition is good in the eyes of
Westminster and barged 200 kilome-
Metro politicians, who hope they are
tres around the Island to Gold River.
left with more options than just send-
An estimated 90 megawatts of elec-
ing waste to Cache Creek.
tricity generated from burning waste
If the Interior landfill is the only
would be sold to the B.C. Hydro
place Metro garbage can go, they say,
grid, helping power the Island and
the sky is the limit on what taxpayers
offsetting the use of natural gas-fired
might be forced to pay.
generators.
jnagel@surreyleader.com
How should we manage our waste?
Metro Vancouver is consulting on a new Draft Integrated
Solid Waste and Resource Management Plan to guide
the management of solid waste in an affordable and
environmentally responsible way.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT www.metrovancouver.org
PUBLIC MEETINGS
OPEN HOUSE 6 pm–7 pm PUBLIC INPUT 7 pm–10 pm Q & A 10 pm–10:30 pm
Mon. May 3 Hope
Hope Golf Club
900 Golf Course Road
Tues. May 4 Port Moody
Inlet Theatre
100 Newport Drive
Wed. May 5 Langley
Newlands Golf & Country Club
21025 – 48th Avenue
Thurs. May 6 Maple Ridge
Fraserview Village Hall
22610 - 116th Avenue
Tues. May 11 North Vancouver
Lonsdale Quay Hotel
123 Carrie Cates Court
Sat. May 15
Open House 12 - 1 pm
Abbotsford
Public Input 1 - 4 pm
NEW venue for Abbotsford
Abbey Arts Centre
NEW
Q & A 4 - 4:30 pm 2329 Crescent Way
Coast Capital Playhouse
Tues. May 18
White Rock
1532 Johnston Road
Wed. May 19 Vancouver
Vancouver Public Library
Central Library Alice MacKay Room
350 West Georgia Street
Delta Town & Country Inn
Thurs. May 20 Delta
6005 Highway 17
Best Western Rainbow Country Inn
Wed. June 16 Chilliwack
43971 Industrial Way
NEW Fraser River Discovery Centre
Thurs. June 17
New Westminster
788 Quayside Drive
If you wish to speak at a public meeting, you will be asked to register at the
front desk (five minutes per speaker). Written submissions are encouraged,
and will be acknowledged. Issues raised in correspondence and at public
meetings will be addressed prior to submission of the final plan to the B.C.
Minister of Environment for approval.
Metro Vancouver staff will be available to answer questions during
the open house and Q & A portion of the evening.
Send your comments by July 14, 2010 to:
Lois E. Jackson, Chair, Metro Vancouver or
Greg Moore, Chair, Metro Vancouver Waste Management Committee,
who will be chairing the public meetings.
EMAIL: icentre@metrovancouver.org FAX: 604-432-6297
MAIL: Metro Vancouver, Public Involvement Division
4330 Kingsway, Burnaby B.C. V5H 4G8
18 Friday May 14 2010 Surrey North Delta Leader

Scott Temreck,
the manager of
fuel marketing
and research
for Urban
Woodwaste
Recyclers in New
Westminster,
with a handful of
hog fuel, which
is comprised of
chopped and
shredded wood
from construction
and demolition
sites. It’s mixed
with small
amounts of
paper and plastic
to become a fuel
for Lafarge’s
Richmond cement
plant.
MARIO BARTEL/BLACK PRESS

Stealth incinerators
How climate change is burning up more of what we ‘recycle’
A proposed new Metro Vancouver waste-to-energy
plant is highly contentious. But pressure to fight
climate change is leading some industries to use
waste as fuel as well. This third instalment in our
Trash Talk series looks at carbon emissions and the
influence they exert.
by Jeff Nagel
W
ood makes up 20 per cent of the region’s
waste stream and diverting more of it
cement for the concrete used to build sidewalks,
bridges and buildings.
Urban Woodwaste ships Lafarge process-
engineered fuel (PEF) – shredded wood with small
amounts of paper and non-recyclable plastics added house gas reductions, without examining impacts
to boost combustion.
After a two-year experiment, Lafarge now burns
15 per cent PEF.
“We’d like to get up to 40 per cent of
our fuels being alternative,” says Randy
TRASH
Gue, Lafarge’s director of business devel-
opment and resource recovery.
That means taxpayers’ dollars subsidize Lafarge’s
shift to wood fuel.
The trust says the alternative PEF fuel is “cleaner”
but those calculations are based solely on green-
on local air pollution.
B.C.’s escalating carbon tax is also an incentive to
switch.
Lafarge pays carbon tax on the coal
it burns but not on wood-based fuel,
making wood cheaper in comparison
with each passing year.

cycling.
from the landfill is a critical plank in
Metro Vancouver’s plan to increase re-
But much of the wood already being collected
isn’t really recycled.
Instead, it’s being burned to power local indus-
tries that can then claim to have greened their busi-
nesses by cutting carbon emissions.
It’s an under-the-radar trend Metro Vancouver
officials acknowledge has implications for every-
thing from air quality to Metro’s own waste incin-
eration plans.
The poster child for wood recycling is Urban
Woodwaste Recycling.
Trucks continuously roll in to the firm’s New
Westminster yard, adding to a vast pile of scrap
wood, pallets and even logs that await processing.
Workers and machines sort the material, filter
out contaminants, recover commodities of value
and then grind most of the wood into either fuel or
compost.
“The real market is fuel,” says Scott Temreck,
director of fuel marketing and research at Urban
Woodwaste.
Other materials are extracted and sold – Temreck
points to bins of wire, cable, aluminum, nails and
other metals – but they are byproducts.
“The only reason we can recycle is that we make
money from the fuel.”
A key customer is the Lafarge cement plant
in Richmond, which burns mainly coal to cook
He claims the wood-based fuel burns
somewhat cleaner than coal (although
critics argue wood may be contaminated,
TALK The company doesn’t rule out
broader use of unsorted waste as a fuel
in the future, either.
and cement plants are often less scruti- Technologies exist to turn garbage
nized and use less advanced scrubbing into finger-sized fuel pellets that could
technology than waste incinerators.) also feed the cement plant, Gue said,
But the real motivator is money. but added that would depend on such a
Lafarge pays less for local wood fuel than processor setting up shop here.
it does importing coal. Lafarge isn’t the only local industry
And wood has another big advantage. burning up part of the waste stream.
It’s counted as a carbon-neutral fuel Used tires collected from across
because it’s assumed new forests grow B.C. for recycling end up at a plant on
to replace those cut down, unlike the Annacis Island.
burning of coal, which adds net ‘new’ Part 3 of a Black But not all of them become recycled
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Press special rubber products. Close to 30 per cent
Switching from coal to wood has series examining of the tires – 3,000 a day – are instead
allowed Lafarge to claim a huge reduc- the issues burned as fuel at sites such as Lehigh
tion in greenhouse gas emissions – surrounding the Northwest Cement in Delta, the region’s
189,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over region’s waste other big cement plant.
three years. management Lehigh is also looking at using wood-
Lafarge converts those credits to plans based fuel from Urban Woodwaste.
cash by selling them to Offsetters Clean “Both cement plants are very inter-
Technology, which in turn sells them to ested in alternative fuels,” says Metro
the Pacific Carbon Trust, the provincial planning manager Ken Carrusca. “I
government’s clearing house for greenhouse gas have never seen the cement industry as interested as
offsets. they have been in the last few months.”
Provincial government agencies, including school He says the use of wood and other waste-based
districts and health authorities, are under orders to fuels to cut carbon emissions has taken off “without
become carbon-neutral, and are expected to pay the many people realizing it.”
trust $25 for each tonne of carbon emissions they
can’t avoid internally. See WOOD WASTE / Page 19
Surrey North Delta Leader Friday May 14 2010 19

Wood waste: Target to

collect food waste should pull large
Carbon math: which amounts of organic material out of the
disposal option is waste stream.
That reduces the amount of wet
best for the climate? garbage going to the landfill to rot –

divert 76% by 2015 WHETHER WASTE incinerators or land-

fills do best in minimizing greenhouse
gas emissions from garbage depends
heavily on who crunches the numbers
From page 18
and the creativity of their math.
Landfills have traditionally been con-
Public concern about Metro’s draft waste sidered heavy greenhouse gas emitters
management plan has focused on the preferred because the landfill gas that burps from
strategy to build a new waste-to-energy incinera- their bowels contains methane, which
tor in the region to consume up to 500,000 tonnes is 21 times more potent at warming the
of garbage. planet than carbon dioxide.
But the plan also opens the door for ongoing use Incinerators score carbon points
of the cement kilns and other burners because it because they convert garbage into
defines waste-to-energy as not just a new incinera- energy, avoiding the need
tor, but also “industrial use of refuse-derived fuel.” to pull new fossil fuels out
What if in-region waste-to-energy is eliminated of the ground to burn and
from the plan due to air quality concerns?
Carrusca wouldn’t speculate on whether that
send into the sky. NEXT
Much of the emissions
could halt the flow of wood to other burners like from burning garbage FRIDAY
Lafarge. therefore shouldn’t be
Randy Gue at Lafarge isn’t worried about that counted when adding IN THE
scenario. His bigger fear is that Metro will build
its own second incinerator that will “swallow
up greenhouse gases,
according to the UN’s
LEADER:
everything” and reduce the cement plant’s supply Intergovernmental Panel
of alternative fuels. on Climate Change.
Local competition Metro also contends a Zero
Wood for wood-based
fuel is growing,
new waste-to-energy plant
can further offset carbon waste:
waste even without a new
incinerator.
emissions by piping steam
to nearby buildings, which
Fantasy
material responsible for the bulk of the
methane created.
As the region gets better at compost-
ing and diverting organics, the logic
goes, landfills become more climate-
friendly because more of what’s left are
plastics and other inert materials.
That fossil carbon is then stored in
the dump, rather than sending it to
the sky, which some analysts say gives
landfills the advantage.
“If you get all the organics out, the
landfills would be virtually carbon-
neutral,” says Ben West of the Western
Canada Wilderness Com-
mittee.
Metro officials counter that
greenhouse gas emissions
still occurs from compost-
ing organics, whether that
happens in a landfill or at a
compost facility.
Also sometimes left out is
the fact methane captured
from landfills turns into car-
bon dioxide when burned.
Which side is right?
Jordan Best, policy analyst
for the Recycling Council
of B.C., concludes landfill

■ Now going to
The Kruger tis- then no longer burn their or future? and incinerator proponents
have both made “extravagant
sue paper mill in own fuel. claims” and the truth lies in
disposal: 240,000 New Westminster Incinerators also extract
tonnes per year. between.
recently converted metals from the slag for Incinerators may have the
from natural gas to BOAZ JOSEPH / BLACK PRESS recycling, which is counted edge for now, he said, but as the waste
■ Currently urban wood waste The Lehigh Cement plant in Delta uses tires as offsetting the energy and emissions
diverted: 118,000 stream changes, the two technologies
fuel, burning more as part of its fuel supply. otherwise spent mining virgin metals may end up very close in terms of
tonnes (33%). than 50,000 tonnes and smelting new steel in places like carbon output.
per year. China or the U.S. A third option – called mechanical
■ Target for Nexterra Energy, rules for industrial boilers in the region. But hold on. Time may be on the
diversion by 2015: biological treatment (MBT) – would
the Vancouver Officials concluded some worsening of local air side of the dumps. process garbage before landfilling to
273,000 tonnes company behind the pollution from increased wood burning was justi- Operators of the Cache Creek landfill
(76%). minimize carbon emissions.
technology Kruger fied to reduce carbon emissions and help achieve say they now capture nearly 70 per cent It’s counted by Metro consultants as
uses, also plans to climate change goals. of landfill gas and the technology is the best option of all based on climate
gasify 13,000 tonnes Ben West of the Western Canada Wilder- improving. Instead of just flaring the alone, but has been excluded from the
of wood waste per year at UBC to create heat and ness Committee says that logic fails to take into gas, they aim to generate electricity or plan because the estimated costs are
electricity for the university. account the “nasty toxins” emitted from burning turn it into vehicle fuel. far higher than either incinerators or
Both projects claim dramatic green- wood that’s treated, painted or mixed Also, Metro’s aggressive plan to straight landfilling.
house gas reductions equivalent to with other contaminants.
taking thousands of cars off the road. “We need to move away from
Several local greenhouses have also burning stuff for power,” West said. “It
converted from natural gas to wood should be the last option in terms of
fuel in recent years. where we get our energy from.”
B.C. Hydro’s latest clean energy call He says the push for bioenergy and
also opens the door to more use of biomass burning is more about finding
wood waste, also called biomass, to a use for B.C.’s vast stands of beetle-
generate electricity. killed pine forests to aid the logging
The province defines uncontami- industry.
nated wood as a clean or renewable Even if carbon reductions are the
energy source. Municipal garbage can sole objective, he doesn’t see wood FVGSS.org
also be deemed a clean and renewable fuel as the answer, because trees burn
fuel, but only with the approval of Ben West up far faster than replacement forests
B.C.’s energy minister. grow back.
Since most wood-fired systems “What I worry about is we get to the
emit more local air pollutants than ones burning point somebody wants to expand their project in
natural gas, the question arises: will more burning the tar sands and they have to go and buy carbon
of fuels deemed renewable, clean and green for the offsets,” West said. “That money is given to Lafarge
planet as a whole hurt air quality on a local level? for burning wood chips. And I just don’t see where
Metro Vancouver’s air quality division consid- we’re reducing the amount of carbon anywhere in
ered the issue two years ago when it rewrote the that.”

Acupuncture FLAG CHEVROLET & CHEVROLET TRUCKS

Herbal 50 %off
1 Treatment on st
SMALL BUSINESS
LEASING SPECIAL
Medicine any new service by W.S. Gilbert
and Arthur Sullivan

NEW SERVICES:
Acupressure
TUI NA
Reflexology
#188662
May 19 - 29, 2010
2010 SILVERADO 1500
Dr. Xiujin (Jin) Wang PREFERRED EQUIPMENT GROUP, 4.3L V6, AUTO, A/C, LOCK DIFF., BLOCK HEATER. Surrey Arts Centre Studio Theatre
over 25 Years Experience
B.C. Registered Doctor of
Traditional Chinese Medicine
and Acupuncturist
$
0 DOWN SIGN &
PAYMENT DRIVE
AWAY FOR

CALL IAN
$
299 /MO
Wednesday - Saturday; 7:30pm
Matinees: Saturdays May 22 & 29
Full MSP, ICBC, DVA and Extended Medical & Sunday May 23; 3:00pm
GUILDFORD HEALTH CENTRE 604-780-6302
Qualified clinical 604-588-6258 15250-104th AVE., SURREY Tickets 604-501-5566
staff ready to
serve you!
#16-15300 105 Avenue, Surrey
www.surreyacupuncture.com
Dealer #5401

FLAG
CHEVROLET & CHEVROLET TRUCKS
RIGHT UNDER THE FLAG
Net of all factory inventives.
48 mth term, 8.5% APR, OAC
16 Friday May 21 2010 Surrey North Delta Leader

ZERO WASTE: Fantasy or the future?

The green dream of reducing garbage and increasing recycling faces steep challenges

Pressure is growing to reduce, reuse or cans with banned waste or assess-

and recycle our way to a less waste- ing fines, although Kosmak prefers
ridden society and avoid the need for a gentler re-education of residents.
new incinerator or landfill. This fourth “I don’t like the eco-cop model,” she
instalment of a Black Press special said. “We’re not going to win this if we
series on Metro Vancouver’s garbage alienate everyone.”
strategy explores how far we can go on New disposal bans are also likely to
the road to zero waste. block dumping of wood and, eventu-
ally, organic waste.
by Jeff Nagel Regulators tread a fine line in pun-
ishing wastrels or driving up the price

O
pponents of a proposed of disposal: going too far can trigger
new garbage incinerator an epidemic of illegal dumping.
for the Lower Mainland
are championing an ele- Apartments a trouble spot
gant, green alternative: stop generating
as much garbage in the first place. METRO’S CURRENT 55 per cent
Campaigners in the zero waste recycling rate is deceptive because it’s
movement say Metro Vancouver’s a blended average – the high recycling
draft solid waste management plan rate of the demolition/construction
doesn’t put nearly enough emphasis sector (76 per cent) actually pulls up
on waste reduction and recycling. poorer performance of residents.
Get serious about that, they argue, Single-family homes, often with
and the region could slash the waste garages and more space to store recy-
stream and avoid the need to build clables, currently recycle 44 per cent of
either a new waste-to-energy plant or their garbage.
sign on to an expanded Cache Creek But in multi-family buildings,
landfill. where space is tight and garbage sins
At the same time, we’d turn gar- are made anonymous by a common
bage into needed resources, create dumpster, the rate plummets to 16
green jobs in new recycling industries per cent. That must improve if Metro
and reduce greenhouse gas emis- is to reach its target, particularly since
sions. more of us will live in apartments or
Is it too good to be true? condos as the region continues to
“I don’t think it’s a fantasy,” says densify.
Monica Kosmak, a waste policy The region already has one big
consultant who formerly worked for waste-reduction advantage.
Metro. “It’s certainly possible. You set B.C.’s product stewardship pro-
the target and you go for it.” grams are the envy of most of the
Metro contends its trash reduction recycling world.
plan is both serious and aggressive. The much-lauded take-back
It aims to boost the recycling rate programs, most funded by deposits or
from 55 per cent now to a minimum eco-fees, make industry collect bever-
70 per cent by 2015. age containers, used tires, unwanted
Much of the gains are to be paint, pesticides, used oil and, most
achieved by recently, electronic
diverting more waste like comput-
wood waste and ers and TVs.
TRASH collecting food
leftovers and
Even so, perfec- “You will
tion is elusive.
TALK other organics to
turn into com-
post or biofuel.
Some unscru-
pulous depots still
ship away dead
never get
around 15
Success will
depend on more
computers to be per cent of
pried apart in dan-
cities adopting gerous conditions the waste.
food waste
curbside pickup
overseas.
Encorp captures
So the
and residents 77 per cent of ceiling (for
getting over
the “ick” factor
beverage contain-
BOAZ JOSEPH / THE LEADER ers for recycling,
recycling) is
of separating
their putrefying
Helen Spiegelman, a Zero Waste Vancouver advocate, shows a week’s worth of her but 230 million a around 85
Part 4 of a Black year elude the blue
Press special kitchen scraps,
household garbage.
boxes. per cent.”
series examining storing them Tires no longer
the issues
and then putting linger in piles that Ken Carrusca
them at the curb. climb as the Lower Mainland’s population couver and Seattle, makes residents pay for pose a fire risk, but
surrounding the The plan also hinges grows by roughly 50 per cent over the next collection based on the size of the can they
region’s waste the industry group that
on pulling much more three decades. choose. collects them for recy-
management paper and cardboard That remaining garbage would exceed the Homes can save cash by opting for the tiny cling sends up to 30 per cent to be burned as
plans out of the garbage combined capacity of the Vancouver Landfill micro-can and committing to waste control. industrial fuel.
stream. in Burns Bog and the existing Burnaby But because collection here is done by cit- Plastic bottles are ground into pellets for
Both are already incinerator, making an extra outlet necessary. ies, not Metro, such measures would be up to recycling at a plant on Annacis Island, but
banned – violators caught dumping such To Kosmak, Metro’s math seems calcu- individual municipalities. 20 per cent ends up as residue that becomes
loads at transfer stations can be fined – but a lated to favour a new incinerator. Much tougher enforcement is needed to garbage.
whopping 305,000 tonnes a year still finds its “It appears to me the target is to stop at block the dumping of waste already banned, Those residuals mean that even if every-
way into the garbage. 70 per cent and then build incinerators,” she Kosmak added. thing was collected, a 100 per cent recycling
Even if such measures succeed in diverting said, adding supplemental targets should be That is, indeed, part of the plan, although rate doesn’t result.
an extra 600,000 tonnes of wood, food and drawn up to go to 80 per cent by 2020 and Metro officials don’t envision anything as “You will never get around 15 per cent of
organics per year, Metro projects it will still then 90 per cent by 2030. intrusive as the can-opening, bag-probing the waste,” said Metro engineer and planning
need more new capacity to dispose of more She and others say plenty of tools are avail- garbage inspectors deployed in jurisdictions manager Ken Carrusca.
than a million tonnes of remaining waste in able to cut waste further. like San Francisco.
2015, an amount it expects to continue to Pay-as-you-throw pickup, in use in Van- Options could include info-tagging bags See WASTE BURDEN / Page 17
Surrey North Delta Leader Friday May 21 2010 17

Waste burden: To shift to consumers and businesses?

From page 16 future, argues Helen
Spiegelman of Zero
welfare for waste.”
The provincial govern-
A consumer replacing it.”
It amounts to a seis-
You don’t find single-
serving convenience
Metro
revolution?
“So the ceiling is
around 85 per cent.”
Waste Vancouver. ment is poised to soon mic shift in consumer meals – Spiegelman calls recycling
She predicts new take- expand the current behaviour. it “industrial food” – in
Other products, made backs will steadily relieve e-waste take-back to
WHAT WOULD some-
thing approaching a How will Metro her cupboard. rates:
of composite materials Metro of disposal respon- include cellphones, cam- zero-waste society look Vancouver reform shop- She bakes and sews
or non-compostable sibility and dump the job eras, small appliances, pers and stop the flow and grows what she can. Q Overall: 55%
like?
organics like leather, defy on business stewards. lighting, toys and sports Spiegelman of cheap, “These are practices
recycling altogether. Spiegelman hopes gear. By mid-2012, virtu- often over- in the home that people Q Demolition,
sees a world land clearing and
Consider, he said,
the optimistic scenario
ally anything with an
electric cord or battery
far removed NEXT packaged
goods from
aren’t doing because
they’re so busy making
construction: 76%
from the
where 90 per cent of is to be covered, as the “hyper- FRIDAY China? money so they can buy Q Institutional,
people recycle 90 per program extends to large “It’s going more stuff.”
cent of their waste. appliances, electric tools
commercial”
lifestyle that
IN THE to come on At the end of a week,
commercial and
light industrial:
That means at best 81
per cent of materials are
and medical equipment.
Consumers will likely
so far pre- LEADER: us either by
choice or
her garbage bin is empty
but for about two cups
44%
vails.
going for recycling. pay more eco-fees on a She envi- by force,” of mainly film plastic Q Single family
Take into account the
unrecyclable residuals
broader range of new
products.
sions “discard Vancouver predicts
Spiegelman,
– everything else is
recycled or composted.
residential: 46%

that processors leave Nobody wants to stop

malls” – reuse
centres
Landfill: who believes A self-described Q Multi-family
behind, he said, and it residential: 16%
gets difficult to even
there.
Metro is lobbying for
where people Our the looming
end of cheap
eccentric, Spiegelman
accepts that not every-
will swap Q Target for 2015:
reach 70 per cent, a level
no other major city in Ken Carrusca
more take-backs and an
accelerated pace, espe-
used good mountain oil will soon
transform
one is going to willingly
do what she does. 70%
the world has surpassed. cially the introduction of
instead of
buying new
of trash society. That’s where cities and
“Society is not perfect,”
Carrusca said. the new programs are
requirements to collect
all packaging.
– along with “Our
children are
the Metro government
come in, she says, by
Other
new green
Increasingly, he
added, what remains
punishingly expensive It’s unclear how a recycling not going to blocking the option of places:
and the high costs spur packaging take-back industries. be able to do what we cheap, easy disposal
to be fished out of the business to sell products system would work “You’ll see a lot more did. We are burning and that subsidizes over- Q Austria: 70%
waste stream is harder to with less packaging and – the environment spent on stewardship of burying their resources.” consumption.
recycle and more costly. design goods for long life ministry is pledging to Spiegelman has made She said engineers Q Belgium: 59%
things we own, rather
Those are all chal- and recyclability rather deliver a comprehensive than just consumption the choice and walks the need new instructions
lenges, critics reply, but than disposability. one by 2015 – but talk. – stop making our Q Germany: 65%
and disposal,” she said.
ones that underscore the Consumers would pay Spiegelman and others “You’ll see repair shops. She buys black beans garbage disappear – a
need to reduce waste in more for wasteful goods. say it would likely have in bulk and cooks them message that runs coun- Q Netherlands:
People having their 60%
the first place. “We have a throwaway to be pursued in stages, favourite shoes repaired up in a big vat to be fro- ter to the idea of turning
society because the pro- by working with one and maintained. It zen – the resulting meals waste into energy in an Q Sweden: 48%
Making business ducers that profit from product type and set of means no longer throw- last a month, save money incinerator.
pay making the products producers at a time. ing something away and and avoid stacks of cans. jnagel@surreyleader.com Q Canada: 22%
they sell to us aren’t
TAKE-BACK programs covering the cost of the
waste,” she said. “It’s
are the way of the We offer the most advanced hearing aid technology
INTEREST RATES ARE RISING! to suit every budget and lifestyle.
Take advantage of our low rates today!
• 1st time buyers • self-employed Visit us on May 26 and see a demonstration

1.75% Variable Closed

604-728-2916
refinancing • investors

A 2 Z Mortgages
of the latest technology from Unitron.
complimentary hearing tests
enter to win a free smart alert system from unitron
don’t miss our 2 for 1 battery sale in may

JUSTIN GARCHA SURREY: 405-15940 Fraser Hwy.

justingarcha@hotmail.com
Rates subject to change without notice. 778-578-0441
SURREY TEAM

We’ve Moved!!
“After 29 Years”

15
Dr. Herman Li, Registered Audiologist

%
Check out our Hameet Kainth, Customer Care Representative
Registered under the Hearing Aid Act (BC).
New Location
and receive...
off
purchase of foam

FOAM CUT TO ANY SIZE

• FABRIC • VINYLS • MATTRESSES
• PINE BED FRAMES • PILLOWS
• F OA M F O R H O M E • B OAT S
10083 Whalley Blvd. SURREY 604.581.2303 • C A M P E R S • A N D M O R E ! !

LIVINGSTONE
Denture Group
Are your dentures...
❑ Over 5 years old?
❑ Loose, cracked or stained?
❑ Making your mouth sore?
❑ Keeping you from enjoying food? Giao Le SPECIAL

If you’ve answered YES to any of these questions... WE CAN HELP!!! Family 4-pack
• We also offer Precision BPS and Geneva 2000 Dentures $89
• All dental plans accepted • Repairs done while you wait
• Care home visits available
Certified
BPS Denture
Centre
Call now for your
Complimentary Consultation
604.582.2772 (Emergency No. 604.512.4148)
10115 Whalley Blvd, Surrey (behind Fresgo’s Restaurant)
www.livingstonedentureclinic.com
18 Friday May 28 2010 Surrey North Delta Leader

TRASH
TALK

A heavy-duty
bulldozer moves
trash around at
Part 5 of a Black the Vancouver
Press special Landfill in Burns
series examining Bog.
the issues EVAN SEAL / THE LEADER
surrounding the
region’s waste
management
plans

More garbage goes to the more cells and lays down

Vancouver Landfill in Delta plastic covers on top to trap
than to either Cache Creek or more gas.
the existing Metro incinerator. Close to a fifth of the
This fifth part in a Black Press landfill gas is flared on site
series on waste management at two large burners.
looks at the future of the region’s Most of the gas collected
local dump. is piped under Highway 99
and burned to heat nearby
by Jeff Nagel greenhouses run by Village
Farms and to generate

D
r ive rs p a s s i ng electricity for B.C. Hydro.
through Delta on The partnership eases cli-
Highway 99 can mate change impacts and
usually smell it be- reduces the need to burn
fore they see it. other fuels – equivalent to

Trash
The Vancouver Landfill, a taking 6,000 cars off the
man-made mesa of garbage as road and heating up to
tall as a 10-storey building, is 4,000 homes.
the final resting place of 40 per Water pollution is also
cent of the Lower Mainland’s a risk.
waste. Any landfill generates a
Metro Vancouver’s proposed certain amount of leachate
solid waste management plan – the toxic soup produced

mountain
assumes garbage will continue when rainwater sluices
to be packed in layers at the through garbage.
landfill on the edge of Burns The Vancouver Landfill
Bog for decades to come, is particularly susceptible
regardless of whether a second because of its rainy West
waste-to-energy incinerator Coast location, unlike the
is built or the Cache Creek arid, desert-like climate at
regional landfill is expanded. the Cache Creek landfill.
The dump – owned and Any new landfill built
operated by the City of Van-
couver – poses environmental Metro plans to keep dumping garbage at the under modern regulations
would require a composite
risks more serious than odour.
In January 2009, a fire broke Vancouver landfill in Burns Bog clay-and-plastic liner to
contain leachate.
out in the landfill and burned But the Vancouver
underground for four weeks landfill, built in 1966, has
before fire crews were able to no such liner. Instead it
extinguish it, using 500,000 relies on a compacted
gallons of water. clay base that’s considered
The smoke plume from highly impermeable and a
such fires can contain large with preservatives or coated in stains and paints, along with system of twin ditches that
amounts of airborne toxins. Unlike burning garbage at a some plastics and PVC. surround the perimeter to catch leachate that seeps out the
waste incinerator, no scrubbing systems clean emissions from They argue the risk to the public of more fires in the future sides of the dump.
a landfill fire. Nor is the waste burned at the extremely high remains significant and should be at least considered in Leachate caught by the dikes is pumped out to the Annacis
temperatures an incinerator uses to break down most danger- weighing the region’s waste disposal alternatives. Island sewage plant for treatment.
ous organic compounds. Underground wells are used to regularly test the ground-
And there is no accurate way to test what is actually com- Collecting landfill gas water in aquifers that flow southwest under the dump toward
ing out of the ground. Boundary Bay.
Metro officials estimate the 2009 Vancouver Landfill THE VANCOUVER Landfill is also a big local source of green- “We’re not seeing migration of leachate in the aquifers in
fire released dioxins into the air equivalent to running the house gas emissions, because the landfill gas that burps the groundwater below the landfill,” Belanger said.
Burnaby incinerator for 57 years. from the pile contains methane, which is 21 times more Meanwhile, efforts to take food scraps and other organics
“You’re dealing with an uncontrolled emission source that potent in warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. out of the waste stream should reduce the amount of leachate
has no air pollution controls associated with it,” Metro senior According to the U.S. EPA, landfill gas also contains low generated over time, as will the gradual closing of more sec-
engineer Chris Allan said. levels of mercury – absorbed from the batteries, fluorescent tions of the dump.
Landfill manager Lynn Belanger calls the 2009 fire an light bulbs, electrical devices and paint that can end up in Not everyone is reassured.
isolated incident. dumps. Eliza Olson, president of the Burns Bog Conservation
She also says the dioxins released may be lower than Metro Capturing and burning landfill gas reduces greenhouse gas Society, fears an earthquake could liquefy soil in the area and
calculates, because demolition and construction waste was on impacts and converts any mercury to a less toxic form. release a torrent of pent-up landfill effluent.
fire, rather than regular garbage, on which U.S. Environmen- A grid of pipes in the Vancouver Landfill collects an “It could spill toxins into the neighbouring farmland and
tal Protection Agency (EPA) landfill fire data is based. estimated 70 per cent of its landfill gas. Belanger expects that the Fraser River,” she said. “You’ve got an ecological disaster
Metro officials say similar dioxin levels could easily come will soon climb to 73 per cent and beyond as the dump closes waiting to happen there.”
from burning demolition waste, which contains wood treated
See METRO / Page 19
Surrey North Delta Leader Friday May 28 2010 19

Vancouver: ‘Carte blanche to continue dumping’

From page 18
Cheap but
unloved
DELTA COUNCIL wants
the landfill closed as
quickly as possible.
“The majority of
people don’t want to
have it here,” said Mayor
Lois Jackson, speaking
as Delta mayor, rather
than the chair of Metro’s
board.
She faces an uphill
battle.
City of Vancouver
officials see the potential
to run the landfill for at
least another 40 years
– it’s currently permitted
to operate until 2037.
Jackson said she has
tried but failed to per-
suade City of Vancouver
politicians to meet to
discuss the long-term
future of the dump.
Delta cannot unilater-
ally end the tripartite
agreement it has with
Metro and Vancouver
authorizing the landfill.
“They have carte
blanche to continue
dumping stinking
garbage into another
community without
negotiations, without
discussion, and they’re
very content with the
status quo,” Jackson said.
“They want to be the
greenest city in the world
– but at the expense of
the Delta airshed, our
roadways, our truck
traffic problem and the
Lois Jackson
longevity of that permit.”
Money is a big motive,
she charges.
The low cost of the
Vancouver Landfill –
$30 per tonne of waste
dumped there – gives
City of Vancouver
residents far cheaper
disposal than if they
had to use the rest of the
regional system, which
costs $82 per tonne.
Vancouver also
charges the full regional
rate on much of the non-
residential waste dumped
there and pockets the
difference – a $52-per-
tonne profit that adds up
to millions of dollars of
revenue a year.
Consultants for Van-
couver estimated the city
will save $700 million
over the next 40 years
by being able to dump
at its own landfill, rather
than using the regional
system.
They also recom-
mended Vancouver resist
any proposals to either
close the landfill early
or open it up to more is willing to discuss the 750,000 tonnes allowed below estimates that needed to fit the waste
of the rest of the region, landfill’s future with under its operating more than 1.2 million needing disposal within
and instead preserve it as Delta and Metro Van- permit. tonnes per year will the limits on the use of
long as possible for the couver. But that becomes need disposal. the Vancouver Landfill
primary use of Vancou- “We’re happy to have problematic as diversion Metro estimates a and Burnaby incinera-
ver taxpayers. that discussion,” Deal rates rise. diversion rate of 80 to tor.
As host of the landfill, said. “We want to aggres- The three-way agree- 83 per cent would be jnagel@surreyleader.com
Delta gets major benefits sively pursue reducing ment governing the
as well – free disposal the amount of waste Vancouver Landfill
for its residents and a going into the landfill limits how much can Vancouver Landfill
flow of royalties paid by and taking out the organ- be dumped there to the
Vancouver. ics so we don’t have the actual amounts of waste by the numbers:
“It’s a sweet deal for methane issues.” generated by its service
us,” Jackson acknowl- Deal said the Vancou- area – the City of Van- Q Height: 39 metres at peak
edges, adding some of ver Landfill will likely couver, UBC-area lands,
her taxpayers might say always need to be open Richmond, Delta, South Q Area: 225 hectares
Delta should shut up and to take the ash that’s left Surrey and White Rock.
take the money. behind by the existing If those areas increase Q Permitted until: 2037
“But it’s not socially waste incinerator. recycling and reduce
Q Current annual disposal: 510,000
responsible, it’s not politi- As recycling what they dump – cur-
cally responsible.” rently 670,000 tonnes tonnes of garbage plus 140,000 tonnes
rises, dump limit of demolition waste
Vancouver per year – the annual
city council tightens disposal limit at the
has come out landfall falls as well. Q Leachate pumped out per year: 2
against the NEXT Waste-
reduction
If the region’s western million cubic metres
combustion municipalities attain 70
of more waste FRIDAY advocates per cent recycling by Q Serves: 1 million Metro residents in
say Metro Vancouver, Richmond, Delta, White
(they prefer
alternative
IN THE Vancouver
2015, Metro estimates
the limit for the Van- Rock and South Surrey.
could – if it
waste-to- LEADER: can boost
couver Landfill will fall
energy tech-
nologies other the recycling
to 470,000 tonnes per
year. Open house:
than a new Decision rate past 70
per cent – get
Along with the
Want to get a better look at the
mass-burn Burnaby incinerator,
incinerator). time by without the region would then Vancouver Landfill operations? An
Vancouver sending have 750,000 tonnes of open house is slated for Saturday, June
Coun. waste to disposal capacity – well 5. Details are at www.vancouver.ca/
Heather Deal, who Cache Creek landfillopenhouse
serves on Metro’s waste or building a new incin-
management commit- erator. ADVERTISING FEATURE
tee, denies Jackson’s They suggest all
residual waste would go
claims that Vancouver
is opposing incineration to either the Burnaby The War on Speed in the UK
to ensure long-term use incinerator, which takes
about 280,000 tonnes per The high degree of government’s misuse of its
THE
of the Vancouver landfill North American media own statistics that in 2001
and block a competing year, or the Vancouver interest in the recent he set up a website—
outlet for waste. Landfill, which currently British elections has www.safespeed.org.uk.
takes 650,000 tonnes
ROAD
She said finances were been surprising and that Mr. Smith contended
not a factor in the deci- annually but could go contentious road safety that speed cameras had
sion and that Vancouver up to a maximum of issues have attracted some created “a nation of

The Surrey Fire
Fighters
Are seeking volunteers to assist in
the operation of our Thrift Store.
If you would like to join a team of
people dedicated to helping their
community in a fun and robust
working environment we want
you! A unique partnership with the
Suurrey Hospice Society ensures all net
incomme of the store is used to benefit the
people of Surrey. Donaations of items in good condition can
be dropped off at the storre or placed in a collection bin located
at most fire halls in Surreey. Drop by and visit us Monday thru
Saturday 10:00 am - 5:000 pm. We are located at the corner of
72 Ave. and King George Hwy. beside the Newton Wave Pool.
of this attention even
more so. Perhaps the new
Transport Secretary, Philip
Hammond’s command of
the sound bite explains it.
Cedric Hughes Barrister & Solicitor drivers learn to adjust
www.roadrules.ca
vancouver.ca
On his first day on the job
he said, “The war on the motorist is over,”
which is surely an enticement.
Discover the Lighter On one of the longest simmering issues
Mr. Hammond promised to “end the way
Side of the Landfill the country’s 33 million drivers have been
targeted by an array of speed cameras,” and
Come out to one of the most unique and “stressed the coalition government would
interesting events in the city! Join us at the abide by a Tory manifesto promise not to
City of Vancouver’s 10th annual Landfill fund any more fixed-position speed cameras.
Councils could fund them if they had the
Open House on:
money and could justify their use — but the
Saturday, June 5, 9 am - 3:30 pm money raised would go to the Treasury.”
5400 72nd Street, Delta The effectiveness of the nationwide network
of speed cameras in reducing fatalities has
long been questioned by many led by [the
Highway 99 to
Vancouver late] Paul Smith, an engineer turned road
Fraser
safety expert. In 1999, as income from speed
River
ad
RULES
drivers concentrating on
compliance rather than
safety.” He said that safe
their speed to remain
safe in the prevailing
road, weather and traffic conditions and
that this adjustment is “an output from [the
driver’s] own internal risk management
system.” Yet implicitly the Department of
Transport [DfT] was regarding speed as an
“input”and denying that drivers were capable
of managing risk.
Mr.Smith charged the DfT with feeding
the driving citizenry “a false dogma to justify
its policies” that has infected our road safety
industry, with millions now believing that the
only way to safer roads is slower traffic.”
Another group, Drivers Alliance, started
in July 2008 to oppose road pricing and
congestion charging—congestion being
measured by speed of travel—is calling
for the new government to mandate that

For info on volunteering at our store George

camera recorded offences approached £100 speed limits on main roads respect the
Ro

call 604-599-9930
604 599 9930
Massey million a year, the previously downward trend internationally recognized 85th percentile
r
ve

Tunnel
Ri

60th Ave. in the number of fatal accidents had reversed. principle for setting optimum safe limits—the
Vancouver Nevertheless the government continued to speed at which 85% of the traffic travels on
64th St.

Wee would like to thank tthe Bu

Landfill focus its road safety strategy on speed, citing a a roadway. Arguing that under the Labour
72nd St.

rns
following
llowing
l i g ffor th
their
i suppo
support: D riv
e
government report to the effect that “excessive government many speed limits were set too
Highway 17 and inappropriate speed” contributed “far low for political and ideological reasons,
more than any other single [factor]… Drivers Alliance says that “speed limits should
• “A Dog Day Afternoon” to casualties on our roads.” The report, be set to keep traffic moving, minimize
See what surprises are in store at this however, didn’t actually say this. It identified journey times and keep the roads safe.”
• Bryan Philips 635-hectare, wheelchair-accessible site. many other factors from “driving without due And the debate goes on.
• Jacob Gerein Check out the ocean views and hawks and care and attention to the influence of drink;
falcons in flight. Learn about some of our from poor overtaking to nodding off at the
wheel” and ranked “excessive speed” as a …by Cedric Hughes, Barrister & Solicitor
green initiatives such as composting and
MISSION STATEMENT cause of crashes at only 7.3 per cent. with regular weekly contributions from
power generation. Pick up free compost. Mr. Smith was so shocked by the Leslie McGuffin, LL.B.
To provide charitable programs that Other highlights include: behind-the-scenes
benefit the citizens of our community tours, craft activities for kids, equipment
and to assist other charities within
the community that have similar displays, free refreshments and more! Personal Injury Law, ICBC Claims
goals and objectives. FOR MORE INFORMATION: “Experienced representation for serious injuries”
Contact us at: 8767-132 Street, Surrey, BC V3W 4P1 vancouver.ca/landfill or phone 604-588-8288 • 105-14914 104th Ave., Surrey
(Near Guildford Town Centre)
Outside Vancouver 604.873.7000
604-574-5785 www.surreyfirefighters.com Law Corporation www.hughesco.com • Free Initial Consultation
Surrey North Delta Leader
by Jeff Nagel
B
urning more garbage to turn it into energy is Metro
Vancouver’s preferred strategy to dispose of 1.2 mil-
lion tonnes of waste per year it says cannot be re-
cycled or diverted.
The region’s draft solid waste management plan would
allow construction of a new garbage incinerator taking up
to 500,000 tonnes per year – the rest would go to the exist-
ing Burnaby incinerator or be dumped at the Vancouver
Landfill in Delta.
The plan’s second choice is to send the waste to an out-
of-region incinerator, such as one proposed on Vancouver
Island.
The fallback option is to keep sending
garbage away to a distant dump, likely the
TRASH Cache Creek landfill.
The divisive debate has split the Lower
TALK
Mainland.
It has featured competing claims and
philosophies of what’s best for the environ-haven’t made a final decision on what
ment.
Metro directors must soon
weigh the evidence – on every-
thing from incinerator air emis-
sions to toxic dump leachate, from
effects on climate change to the
implications for recycling.
Written submissions to Metro
so far have lined up heavily
against a new local incinerator –
mirroring much of the opposition
Final part of at public meetings in the Fraser Heather Deal to pursue waste-to-energy.
a Black Press Valley.
special series The 90-day consultation period
examining ends July 14. (Although the final two public Metro’s process that questions the focus
the issues meetings on the plan are June 16 in Chilli- on incineration and casts doubt on
surrounding the wack and June 17 in New Westminster,
there will be another four weeks to submit
region’s waste written comments).
management
Directors who sit on the Metro waste
plans management committee meet in the sec-
ond half of July to debate possible amend-
ments to the plan.
Recommendations from there would go to a vote of the
full Metro board, likely at the end of July.
Vancouver directors are demanding major changes to the
plan.
One of their proposed amendments would block “com-
bustion” of more garbage – no new incinerator could be
built but other waste-to-energy technologies such as gasifi-
cation, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion would be allowed.
Friday June 4 2010 17
Decision
time
Landfills, incineration or
more recycling? Metro
garbage debate may be
settled this summer
ARNALDO RODRIGUES PHOTO
The author of the amendment, Vancouver Coun. Heather “That’s among the flaws of this process,” Stewart said.
Deal, said she isn’t personally worried about health hazards “You have to submit a plan and only then can you begin to
from a new garbage incinerator. figure out what the plan really is.”
“I don’t have the fear of the technology that some people Stewart suspects the plan will pass in a version close to its
do,” Deal said, adding she was very impressed by the pollu- current form.
tion controls on modern incinerators she toured in Sweden. He won’t support Vancouver’s anti-combustion amend-
“My concerns are less to do with the health issues, they’re ment because he says incineration should be among the
more to do with the scale issue.” technologies weighed – but without bias.
Deal believes mass-burn incineration, if kept in the mix of Waste management committee chair Greg Moore, the
waste-to-energy options, will ultimately win because it will mayor of Port Coquitlam, denies Metro’s consultations
be much cheaper to build one big conventional burner. favour incineration.
That would shut out the potential for a number of smaller He said Metro’s presentations at public meetings focused
scale waste-to-energy plants using the alternative technolo- on that option because officials knew it was intensely
gies that Deal argues may make better use of garbage as a controversial and wanted to ensure questions about it were
resource. answered efficiently.
Vancouver directors also want to ban wood waste and Moore predicts some changes will be made to the plan.
kitchen organics from either landfills or incinerators and to
set a new goal to sharply reduce the amount of waste gener-
If the committee wants to eliminate incineration as an
option, he said, it will have to decide whether it’s feasible to
ated per person.
Deal said Vancouver directors
amendments they’ll seek – or whether
they’ll be able to vote for a
plan if the rest of the board
rejects changes.
Doubts grow
Vancouver’s reticence to
rubber stamp the draft plan
isn’t the only crack in what
had been a near-united front
City of Coquitlam officials
have also tabled a report critical of
estimates of much lower costs.
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart Metro Vancouver politicians decide this summer whether to increase
says he may vote against the current waste-to-energy incineration (above), or landfill garbage (such as at
draft plan. Cache Creek, top) to dispose of waste that can’t be recycled.
“I’ve got some real difficulty with the
way we seem to be approaching this
really significant issue,” he said.
One of the frustrations is Metro’s plan doesn’t specify rely on alternative waste-to-energy options, some of which
exactly what waste-to-energy technology would be used or claim big advantages but with little to no track record.
where a new plant would be built – both critical to deter- “If you’re going to eliminate incineration, do the other
mining local impacts. technologies have the capability of taking on the amount of
Instead, those are to be determined after the plan is garbage we need to get rid of?”
approved in a later competitive bidding process. He said the public has been “very passionate” about
Stewart argues such a call for bids should have been done
first. See WASTE PLAN / Page 18
18 Friday June 4 2010 Surrey North Delta Leader

BABYCARE
Waste plan: Final say
Future Shop – Correction Notice
Surrey Central Bell BlackBerry Pearl Prepaid 10145300. Please note that this cell
and phone advertised on page 24 the May 28 flyer has 128MB of flash
memory, NOT 128GB, as previously advertised. We sincerely
White Rock
apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our valued
Call 604-574-5399 customers.

belongs to minister
www.rootsandwingsbc.com

Your Pain Goes – could include eliminating Penner would not discuss such

From page 17


Away in 60 Seconds reducing garbage and the commit-
in-region waste-to-energy as an
option or just stroking out mass-
a scenario.
“I’ll be giving specific attention
burn incineration. to issues related to air quality,” he
or You Don’t Pay! tee might well recommend a more
aggressive diversion target. Even if the minister approves said. “That’s just one component,
(free instore sample) The draft plan commits the a Metro plan allowing a new but it’s one I’ll be looking at very
region to raise the recycling rate incinerator with in-region waste- closely.”
PHARMACIST ALAN GLASSER to-energy as the preferred disposal Penner will be getting advice
from 55 to 70 per cent by 2015,
“Over 90% of those who use this natural magnesium compound when the plan is to be reviewed. solution, a new burner is no slam from ministry staff and could also
feel significantly less pain in 60 seconds! Most of the gains are to come dunk. choose to order further indepen-
My clients wish that I’d developed it years ago and I had to agree!” from diverting much more wood Metro would first call for pro- dent research.
and organics from the garbage. posals and evaluate bids from pro- The National Collaborating
Complementary Sample with this ad. Expires June 12/10 ponents of various technologies. Centre on Health and Environ-
Metro’s calculations do not
provide for improvements as If the board then sought to ment, based at the B.C. Centre for
MARKS PHARMACY from new industry-led takeback build a new incinerator, Penner Disease Control, has also been
#101-8035 120th Street, Delta | 604.596.1774 programs expected to come on could still block that option by asked to review the potential
Toll Free: 1.877.596.1774 | marksdelta@shaw.ca stream.
Officials say they cannot count
on those programs diverting more
material because they do not
exist yet and depend on action by
Victoria.
Senior engineer Dennis
Ranahan notes the solid waste
New Appointment management plan is a regulatory
document to which Metro will be
legally bound.
Atkinson & Terry “It can’t be an idealistic or inspi-
Insurance Brokers rational target,” he said. “It’s a real
is proud to announce the appointment of target we have to meet.”

Geoff Metcalfe Over to Victoria

Once passed by Metro’s
Atkinson and Terry Insurance Brokers is pleased to welcome Geoff Metcalfe to the board, the document goes to
commercial team at its head office - Delta Shoppers Mall branch. environment minister Barry
With over 40 years experience in all types of insurance including commercial, property, Penner – likely by August or early
liability and autoplan, Geoff is dedicated to providing the highest level of insurance advice September.
to his clients. He has extensive experience as a broker in the Surrey, Delta and Langley Penner could do one of three
areas and is a former partner with Beveridge Insurance Brokers. things:
For a competitive proposal on your insurance requirements please contact: • Approve the plan as presented
by Metro without changes.
• Make changes himself and
Geoff Metcalfe, FIIC
604.596.1717 then approve the amended plan.
• Flag deficiencies in the plan
gmetcalfe@atkinson-terry.com
and send it back for Metro to
amend and resubmit.
Potential changes – if Penner
feels air quality concerns in the
Fraser Valley are paramount
www.atkinson-terry.com
An aerial view of the Cache Creek Landfill.
refusing to issue an environmental
certificate.
Moore doubts that would hap-
pen.
“If he believes in-region incin-
eration is not a viable option, I
would think that he would take it
out,” Moore said.
Much money will be spent by
bidding companies, he said, and it
wouldn’t be fair to them if Penner
had no intention to green light any
incinerator at the environmental
assessment stage.
ARNALDO RODRIGUEZ PHOTO
health risks from waste-to-energy
emissions.
It is expected to report back by
the end of August and Penner said
he will consider those findings as
well.
Once the minister approves a
plan it must then be ratified by
individual city councils, which are
responsible for waste collection
and commit under the plan to
deliver key initiatives like organic
food waste pickup.
jnagel@surreyleader.com

Lobbyists grapple for garbage

#120 - 8067 120th Street 19 locations to serve you
Delta, BC V4C 6P7 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

SINCE ENVIRONMENT minister Barry Penner has
the final say on where Metro Vancouver’s garbage
goes, several firms hope to influence his decision so
2010 Local Government By-Election they can profit from what will be a lucrative waste-
Elector Organizations handling contract.
Belkorp Environmental Services, which got the
The Local Government By-Election of a Councillor will be held on green light from Penner to expand the Cache Creek
Saturday, September 18, 2010. landfill, could be a virtual shoe-in if the min-
ister strikes waste-to-energy options from
An elector organization is an organization that endorses the Metro’s solid waste management plan.
election of a particular candidate. Belkorp employs two men who had Pre-
If an elector organization intends to endorse a candidate in mier Gordon Campbell’s trust for years on
critical decisions.
this election, and wishes to have its name on the ballot along Ken Dobell, who was once the premier’s
with the candidate’s name, the organization must have been in deputy minister and special adviser, is
existence for at least 60 days and have had a membership of at registered as an active lobbyist for Belkorp
least 50 electors of the local government for that period. The last to plead the case for continued use of Cache
day for establishment of an elector organization that wants to Creek regional landfill with both Penner and Barry Penner from coal allows them to save money and
endorse a candidate in this election is June 13, 2010. the premier.
Gary Collins, the province’s finance min-
For additional information please contact: ister for the B.C. Liberals’ first three years in power, is Washington State that wants Metro waste, also has a
The Office of the Municipal Clerk Belkorp’s senior vice-president.
Belkorp has also contributed more than $100,000
The Corporation of Delta to the B.C. Liberals over the past five years, Elections
4500 Clarence Taylor Crescent Delta, B.C. V4K 3E2 BC records show.
604-946-3222 (Tel) 604-946-3390 (Fax) An even bigger donor is Vancouver Canucks
clerks@corp.delta.bc.ca (email) owner Francesco Aquilini, whose firm Aquilini
Renewable Energy is behind a proposal to build a
The Corporation of Delta waste incinerator on Tsawwassen First Nation land.
4500 Clarence Taylor Crescent Individually or via his companies, Aquilini has
Delta BC V4K 3E2 contributed $432,000 since 2005 to the Liberals.
www.corp.delta.bc.ca The most advanced proposal for a new incinerator
is one Covanta Energy hopes to build at the site of a
former pulp mill at Gold River on Vancouver Island.
The New Jersey-based firm had a former B.C.
Liberal party president lobbying Penner on its behalf
up until last year.
Covanta already has all environmental permits in
place and only requires a deal with Metro. It would be
a likely frontrunner if Metro is barred from
building an in-region waste-to-energy plant
but is permitted to send waste to an out-of-
region one.
The Cement Association of Canada is also
lobbying Penner.
Local cement plants have a stake in
whether Metro’s plan allows them to con-
tinue burning wood waste or potentially to
begin burning refuse-derived fuel. Switching
claim big greenhouse gas reductions.
Rabanco, the U.S. operator of a landfill in
registered lobbyist pressing the province to relax its
stance against garbage exports.
Other firms with registered lobbyists include one
that wants to build an anaerobic digester to process
food waste.
Penner said his decision won’t be influenced by
lobbying or corporate donations.
Several Metro directors say they’ve been lobbied
frequently by various proponents over the past couple
of years.
jnagel@surreyleader.com