Zero Waste BC is an information network of organizations and individuals.
Our mission is to support a moratorium on new waste incineration facilities in the province of British Columbia and to call for an environmentally responsible Zero Waste strategy for all BC communities.
Send an email to ben@zerowastebc.org
Currently Metro Vancouver is considering a plan which would lead to over half a million tonnes of garbage being incinerated every year. This would be a major step backwards for efforts to achieve Zero Waste.
For every five truckloads of waste burned, four truckloads are pumped into the atmosphere and one remains as toxic ash, which still must be carefully stored or landfilled.[2]
Even the most technologically advanced waste incinerators produce hundreds of distinct hazardous byproducts including dioxins, heavy metals, halogenated organic compounds and the newly discovered threat, nanoparticles.[3][4] These occur both in toxic air emissions and in ash residuals.
Incineration irreversibly destroys valuable materials and necessitates the extraction, refinement and assembly of more raw natural resources to produce new products. Alternatives such as recycling,[7][8][9]reuse and repair and composting conserve energy by efficiently using materials. This significantly reduces global warming pollution, toxic waste and ecological degradation.
They also displace more affordable and economically productive waste and energy solutions. Alternatives to incineration such as recycling, repair, reuse and composting create ten times more jobs (green jobs) and small business opportunities that benefit local communities.[10]
These communities are more vulnerable to being targeted as sites for new incinerators. [11]
If you would like to share your concerns with decision makers simply use this letter writing tool and your message will be forwarded on your behalf to members of the Metro Vancouver board as well as the BC Minister of the Environment, Barry Penner.