Guest column: The future of Metro Vancouver's garbage

By Gregor Robertson, Special to The Province

Metro Vancouver will vote today on a long-term plan for our region's garbage. Proponents of incineration have tried to make this vote about pro-burn or pro-landfill. But it's not. It's a choice between a green future that supports innovation and local jobs or one that continues to rely on garbage mega-projects.

Dealing with waste is a billion-dollar industry. We can create huge opportunities for local businesses, big and small, that strengthen our local economy and make our region a hub for sustainable waste management.

Metro's vote can put our region on the path to a zero-waste future and generate new jobs and investment.

Metro Vancouver is known as an environmentally friendly place, but we have a lot to improve on.

Individually, we produce 50 per cent more garbage than the Canadian average. Clearly, we must do better.

A single waste to energy facility is proposed to deal with our garbage.

Mass incineration, the most common form, burns raw garbage and converts it into energy. However, it is a one-size-fits-all model -- one large, $440-million facility that will burn up to a billion pounds of trash each year.

We can do better.

By separating materials and using smaller, more targeted technologies like converting fast-food wrappers into fuel or organic waste into biofuels, we can use our waste to create energy in a more financially and environmentally responsible way.

Let's use the best practices from cities as diverse as Los Angeles and Copenhagen and pursue new conversion technologies to deal with our waste, rather than committing to one massive incinerator that takes away an incentive to reduce or recycle for decades to come.

This approach will create more jobs and flexibility. Metro Vancouver can excel as a centre for innovation and expertise on sustainable waste management where cutting-edge technology and research companies can set up and thrive.

Everyone agrees waste reduction needs to be the top priority.

A plan based on reduction, recycling, innovation and local jobs would also allow us to avoid the divisive battles we've seen over incinerators between Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Sending our garbage out of region, one of the proposed compromises, only exports and expands this division.

The results of today's vote will be felt for decades. And there's no doubt that in the future we will see waste reduction and job growth as partners, not competing interests.

Let's start today by aggressively reducing our waste and investing in a variety of green technologies.

It's the smart thing to do.