TORONTO – Newly released city reports show that city staff are prepared to look at the possibility of incinerating Toronto’s garbage.
Incineration is one option among many outlined in a report before the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.
The report notes that incineration is popular in Japan, Denmark, Sweden and by Algonquin Power in Peel Region.
Newer technology, the report claims, allows energy to be generated from the burnt garbage.
“You can heat something to a very high temperature with today’s technology and you can actually pull out methane or other useful products that you can use,” Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong said. “Incineration is one word but there are also other technologies. There is gasification, there’s plasma, there’s everything in between.”
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In 2007, the city committed to diverting 70 per cent of Torontonian’s garbage from landfill by 2016 in an attempt to extend the life of the Green Lane Landfill until 2036.
Minnan-Wong said in an interview Thursday, that the city is exploring its options now in order to keep from being forced into emergency measures at a later date.
“By 2030, Green Lane could be filled. Being in 2013, looking at 2030, in the Waste Management Business, it’s not that far way,” Minnan-Wong said. “So instead of scrambling, we need to deal with it now.”
The city will also be looking at several other options for diverting garbage from landfills.
Some of the options that could also generate energy include pyrolysis, gasification, plasma arc gasification, waste-to-fuel and pellets.
And the city will also look at alternative disposal methods including expanding the Green Lane Landfill, partnering with private industry and other municipalities and purchasing another landfill.
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