A proposed waste-to-energy facility is back on the front burner at Metro Vancouver.
Metro Vancouver wrote to city council stating it's preparing to start the process of identifying a site for a "new waste-to-energy capacity procurement process" for the region, and is seeking input for the criteria it will use to evaluate potential sites. The criteria includes site size, air quality implications, land uses, transportation logistics and impacts, suitability for district energy and cost.
Mayor Wayne Wright told council recently that the issue is one of the most difficult for the region, as there are two sides to the story, with economic needs on one side and social considerations on the other.
"I don't know where we are going to stand as a city," he said.
According to Metro Vancouver, after achieving its waste diversion goal of 70 per cent in 2015 and aiming for 80 per cent by 2020, the region will have about 700,000 tonnes of waste that needs to be managed.
The City of New Westminster will forward information to Metro Vancouver that it has collected about waste-to-energy facilities in the past. Several members of council visited a waste-to-energy facility in Osaka, Japan during a trip to visit New Westminster's sister cities in October 2009, Coun. Bill Harper toured a facility in Tokyo while vacationing in Japan, and senior staffer Lisa Spitale visited a waste-to-energy facility in England while vacationing there a few years ago.
Wherever a facility is built, Coun. Betty McIntosh wants design to be considered to ensure it isn't unsightly.
Harper said council needs more information about the impacts of a waste-to-energy facility, such as siting within urban centres and truck traffic.
Eugene Wat, the city's manager of infrastructure planning, said "there is a whole matrix of potential siting and technology" that would be considered before a decision is made about a waste-to-energy facility.
The former Canfor site in the Braid industrial area had been suggested as a potential site for a facility.
