Waste-to-energy incineration is both noxious and expensive
by Joyce Nelson
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
February 1, 2010

This article has special meaning to Durham residents because it shows that Durham Region is seen as "paving the way" for more incinerators in Ontario and across Canada.

At the “Waste-Based-Energy” industry conference in Toronto last November, the tony Yorkville hotel meeting room was filled with consultants, lawyers, company reps, and municipal bureaucrats, all talking trash: waste tonnage spread-sheets, the seeming evils of landfill sites, the supreme benefits of burning municipal solid waste (MSW) to make energy.

There was even some serious discussion about whether or not to just give in and call it “incineration” – an old-fashioned word that Canadians just keep using, rather than terms like “gasification” or “pyrolysis” which don’t exactly roll right off the tongue.

But the real focal point of the conference was the proposed Durham/York Region waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerator to be operated by Covanta Energy Corp. The proposal is currently before the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, which was scheduled to release a preliminary decision in January and make a final decision by June 2010.

Read more... from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.