New waste incinerator for Metro Vancouver gets support

Metro Vancouver's waste management committee is recommending the region build a garbage incinerator to take care of its mounting solid waste problem, but not everybody likes the plan.

On Wednesday the committee recommended the regional district look at building a new incinerator that would turn half a million tonnes of trash into energy each year.

There is already an incinerator in Burnaby that receives a fifth of the region's trash, and Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan says there have been no complaints about it.

Corrigan said he voted for the plan because he believes the region needs to find a solution for its waste disposal that does not involve simply shipping it out of the region.

"Certainly it wasn't the feeling of a majority of the meeting that it was appropriate for us to try to find a solution to an in-region problem by shipping garbage somewhere out-of-region." said Corrigan.

But those opposed to the plan say burning all that trash is going to create more air pollution.

The City of Vancouver and several Fraser Valley municipalities that are not part of the Metro Vancouver Regional District have said they are opposed to the waste-to-energy incinerator

Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore said he voted against the plan because he would rather see the garbage shipped to a land fill rather than burned.

"We had some other groups that also came forward and I think we need to respect our neighbours as we go through this process," said Moore.

Metro Vancouver's Board of Mayors will vote on the plan next Friday, but if it passes, it will still need the final approval of Environment Minister Barry Penner before the district can go ahead.

Metro Vancouver's Waste Management Committee has not publicly identified any places to build an incinerator in the region if the plan gets a green light next Friday from the district board.

But some local governments that have expressed interest in having an incinerator include the Tsawwassen and Squamish First Nations, and the cities of New Westminster, Surrey and Burnaby.