I would like to applaud city council for looking into the potential proposal for a St. Albert zero-waste facility. The work done so far has been setting the groundwork for the costs, efficiency and facility footprint while trying to ensure that emissions are minimized. Unfortunately, they called upon a technical firm that has limited experience in the implementation of a zero-waste system. The firm, Morrison Herschfield, has done no installations other than to consult for the City of Vancouver, leaving our mayor and councillors with the doom-and-gloom impression that it was not economically feasible.
Canada is actually leading the world in zero-waste technology through a company out of Burlington, Ont. The company, Eco Waste Solutions, can be found at www.ecosolutions.com, and has built batch and continuous waste treatment systems for customers around the world depending on the volume requirements of their customers. Using their proprietary system, they have been able to keep emissions to under one per cent.
The whole purpose of using a zero-waste system is to not only reduce waste volume but to harness the energy from the waste produced to pump it back into the grid. The costs for this type of system can be offset by the energy produced. Obviously, a more detailed economic assessment of the system is required before the city moves forward with the project – but it does have merit. Sweden has moved forward with the technology and is now one of the leading environmental leaders in Europe, or perhaps the world, because of it.
I believe that zero-waste is a technology that all municipalities should be working toward. Our city council’s investigation into zero waste needs to be comprehensive to ensure that return on investment, including environmental issues, are fully understood before they propel our city into either a leading environmental municipality or maintain the status quo with regular increased costs for waste management.
Roland Nelson, St. Albert
