Monday May 24th, 2010 - Coquitlam Seeks More Research on Waste-to-Energy Plan

Engineers from the City of Coquitlam say that before Metro Vancouver initiates its proposed plan for the management of solid waste, an independent assessment should be conducted. Vancouver’s regional district plan lists residual management as well as the recovery of energy as two of its key objectives.

The Coquitlam engineers are questioning some of the alleged benefits of converting waste products into energy. Although the plan is officially receiving city support, Bill Susak, Coquitlam’s engineering manager commented that an unbiased assessment is advisable. Susak advised that that City Council encourage all-out requests for proposals. At the May 17 council meeting, Susak reaffirmed his support for the plan, but noted that all potential suppliers should be invited to submit proposals.

Also during the council meeting, the engineering staff presented a number of items involving the conversion of waste to energy. The staff also outlined and discussed several conjectures originally proposed by the Metro Vancouver staff. Presumably, BC Hydro could purchase output generated from a waste-to-energy operation. The rate at which the output could be bought might offset operating costs.

However, the report from the city officials indicated that there is not an exact value for the energy that could be recaptured via the process. Per the report, the waste-to-energy conversion method might produce air-quality problems that would have to be resolved before any decisions are made regarding the plan.

Metro Vancouver’s long-term goal is to have 70 percent of its garbage diverted by way of recycling, composting and reducing waste. It needs to be determined whether the waste-to-energy process would succeed to the detriment of recycling and composting.