Read the Wilderness Committee article about developing more sustainable waste management systems in Vancouver: Environmentalists Urge Minister Penner to Reject Incineration Due to Toxic Ash in Burns Bog Landfill.

About a month ago I sent in a message to Metro Vancouver after reading about the garbage issue on www.wildernesscommittee.org (great group working for the environment in BC). I just got an email with an update on the situation from Councillor Andrea Reimer and am posting it here in hopes that more folks will become aware of the situation.

Anyway here is the update from Andrea Reimer:

Thanks for your note and my apologies for taking so long to get back to you. The last couple of weeks leading up to the vote were quite hectic.

Although I and other Vancouver directors worked hard to rally Metro Vancouver directors behind a better solution that did not depend on landfills and incinerators (see Mayor Robertson’s op-ed) and respected the hundreds of people we heard from who, like you, were against incineration, we were unable to convince a majority of Metro Vancouver directors to vote with us.

However, the other Directors were not able to agree on where they might put an incinerator. A majority did not want it in the Metro Vancouver region but they also couldn’t agree to put it out of region. As a result, they sent it to the provincial Minister of Environment, Barry Penner, to decide.

My strong suggestion is that you contact Minister Penner directly, as well as your local MLA to let them know how you feel about incineration.

You can find contact information for Minister Penner here and contact information for your MLA can be found here.

Thank you for taking the time to speak out against incinerators.

Councillor Andrea Reimer
City of Vancouver
p. 604.873.7241 | f. 604.873.7750

This was the note I originally submitted on July 13th 2010:

I am very surprised that this waste incinerator is even being considered
given all we know about the health dangers of dioxins and other toxins.
Putting an incinerator like this in will end up costing us all much more in
health. Please take the time to find a really practical solution that will be
beneficial for all.

Thanks