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Are garbage incinerators in the plans for the people of Surrey? The current Surrey First Council is not even sure themselves.

All along, it seemed every Surrey First councillor favoured burning our garbage in what they called waste-to-energy plants. Now, on the eve of the election, the mayor says otherwise.

The Surrey Civic Coalition is opposed to garbage incinerators. I am sure the residents in Surrey are not in favor of smokestacks in their neighborhoods.

The claim of modern technology being able to scrub out the particulates goes waning whenever I get a whiff of the stench of the local waste reduction plant when the winds are right.

Studies have shown higher rates of cancer around municipal waste incinerators. Incinerators are a major source of fine particulates, of tons of metals and more than 200 organic chemicals, including known carcinogens, mutagens, hormone disruptors and some compounds yet to be identified.

Since the nature of the waste continually changes, so does the nature of the emissions.

The “new technology” designed for today are to avoid acute toxic effects in the immediate neighborhood but ignore the fact that many of the pollutants bioaccumulate, can enter the food chain and cause problems over time over a larger regional area.

Incinerators also produce “fly ash” which represents about 30 to 50 per cent of the volume of the original waste, requiring landfilling. Modern incineration merely transfers the toxic load, notably dioxins and heavy metals from emissions to the fly ash.

As an Environmental Protection Officer, I know first-hand we can do better.

The Surrey Civic Coalition believes that we should be adopting a more aggressive zero waste strategy for the region. Much more can be done to reduce commercial and industrial waste, construction, demolition and renovation waste, compostable organic waste and waste from multifamily dwellings.

Waste reduction and recycling are important components of a Green Jobs strategy.

SCC opposes building a multi-decade “public-private partnership” to ensure that an important public resource is not turned over for private control for public profit. The City of Vancouver is a model for which to study. They make millions a year on their facilities which goes back into public programs and not some corporation’s pocket.

One main concern is that if we build an incinerator in Surrey, it will act as a disincentive to reduce waste as it will be necessary to “feed the monster” to keep on generating energy.

A better system such as a central waste reduction utility intended to aggregate demand and assist with marketing of recyclables across the region should be developed.

There are alternatives to garbage incinerators. Vote for SCC City Councillors and we will look at all the options.

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