Possible incineration project for Toronto waterfront

A City of Toronto committee wants to fast-track construction of an incinerator near the Toronto waterfront. On April 1, The Globe and Mail reported that a memo leaked from the "new and emerging technologies" committee, which is responsible for exploring alternatives to landfilling waste, identified avoidance of an environmental assessment in its work plan.

Toronto is under pressure to find an alternative to sending waste to landfills in Michigan (a bottle-bill state) because the U.S. could close its doors to Canadian waste and there has been public outcry in towns along the hauling route in Canada. The city currently spends about $60-million a year to send 135 trucks of waste along highways 401 and 402.

Committee member Brad Duguid, who also serves as chair of the city’s works committee says that flanking the Act would prevent "environmental assessment requirements" from delaying construction of a new incinerator or gasification plant (to "super heat garbage" and produce gas that can be used to generate heat or electricity).

The Toronto Environmental Alliance denounces the plan, noting that the technology under discussion is so new that it has never been successfully demonstrated on a large scale. Meanwhile, the committee says it hopes to issue a request for proposals to construct a new disposal facility by the end of this year.

(See Editorial in the April/May edition.)

Contact Brad Duguid at 416-392-0204 or councillor_duguid@toronto.ca