The final destination for a quarter of Metro Vancouver's garbage is a 1,200 degree fire. And more heat could be on the way. Latest in a series on Metro Vancouver's half-billion dollar garbage plan.
On a cold, wet winter day, an incinerator isn’t that bad a place to work.
The heat from three 1,200 degree fires keeps the Burnaby waste-to-energy facility (WTEF) toasty warm. And aside from the ash covering the railings and floors and the steady plume of smoke from the smokestack, you might not guess that 800 tonnes of garbage gets incinerated here 24-7.
Covanta employee operating "claw" at Burnaby incinerator. Photo by M. Chisholm.
“A lot of waste will be from single family homes so you see a lot of black bag-kind of waste that comes from curbside collection of what comes out of a typical family home, and what they throw in the garbage,” says Chris Allan, Metro Vancouver’s senior engineer responsible for the incinerator.
Plastic baskets, newspapers and other debris waiting to be burned. Photo by M.Chisholm.
Paper, clothing, records, plastics and metal. Wood products and other banned materials. These aren't supposed to end up tossed in the waste stream, but some have escaped the inspector’s scrutiny and face a fiery end.
A stream of trucks roll in to dump their loads of garbage for incineration. More than 25 per cent of the garbage collected from the greater Vancouver area is trucked here every year and all of it ends up as smoke, ash and surprisingly, recyclable material.
Chris Allan, Metro Vancouver Sr. Engineer at Burnaby waste-to-energy incinerator. Photo by M.Chisholm.
When it comes to recyclable material, “ferrous metals (iron & steel) are a big one. Non-ferrous metal is another recoverable and valuable commodity. And you have bottom ash that can be used for road construction,” says Allan.
Of the 800 tonnes of garbage burned every day, 130 kg turns into grey bottom ash. In 2013, some of that bottom ash exceeded limits for the toxic metal cadmium which is known as a carcinogen. The discovery prompted Metro Vancouver to test the small “fly” ash, which is filtered and then dumped by trucks at the Cache Creek landfill site, about a four hour drive away. Those tests showed cadmium levels as much as six times the allowable limit.
“We’re still waiting an independent report from the Ministry of Environment that should be out at some point,” says Allan. “Until we see that report we can’t comment on the Ministry’s findings.”
“The bottom ash we’ve worked with the Ministry and we’ve got a detailed set of analysis for testing for monitoring bottom ash, and all the loads that we’ve produced are in compliance with the ministry requirements.”
Health concerns over new incinerators
The Burnaby incinerator has been burning garbage since 1988. But with population growth over the next 20 years, it won’t be large enough to handle the region’s future waste. Metro Vancouver is moving ahead with a plan to build one, or more new incinerators to handle garbage from a region expected to grow by one million people by 2035. It’s a controversial plan with some Metro Vancouver directors, the zero waste community and citizen groups opposed. The Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) is fighting the plan with a very public TV and radio ad campaign.
Giant claw scoops up Metro Van garbage to feed incinerator. Photo by M.Chisholm.
In 2010, FVRD commissioned a study of the Lower Fraser Valley air shed by UBC atmospheric scientist Prof. Ian McKendry. His study concluded that adding another incinerator to the region’s air shed “will likely have a deleterious effect on air quality” by adding more nitrous oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx). McKendry asserts that “there is indeed sufficient cause for concern, especially from dioxins and nano-particles.”
FVRD contends that no new emissions should be permitted in the regional air shed. Metro Van says that is unreasonable. “It must be acknowledged that some new sources of emissions are necessary and unavoidable, and can be acceptable if they are appropriately managed and provide a benefit to the region or air shed,” says a Metro Van response to the McKendry report.
In recent years, Metro Vancouver has launched a number of new initiatives to improve air quality in the region. Those include a new bylaw reducing diesel fumes from bulldozers and other non-road vehicles, a new air quality and GHG management plan and a new mobile air quality monitoring unit and station for the Fraser Valley.
In the debate over the health impact of incinerators, there is little middle ground. Numerous health organizations and individuals are vehemently opposed to incinerators. On the other hand, Metro Vancouver cites both Health Canada and the UK Health Protection Agency claiming “potential health risks from modern waste incinerators are not a concern.”
Asked if he would move his family to live near the Burnaby incinerator, Chris Allan says “absolutely. We have a number of people who work in our solid waste facility who live in the Burnaby south slope.”
Energy production
A 1,200 degree fire can turn a lot of water into steam and, until recently, the Burnaby incinerator was delivering 600 tonnes of steam a day to a nearby paper recycling facility to run their equipment. The recycling plant is now gone, so the extra steam is being used to generate even more electricity that is sold to BC Hydro. Over the last six years, the facility sold almost $10 million in electricity on average. However, this revenue stream only partially offsets the expense of the incinerator, which costs, on average, about $20 million/year to operate.
With an abundance of steam available, both the City of Vancouver and City of Burnaby are currently angling to tap into that source for either residential or commercial developments nearby.
“There are potentials, as the (Metro Van) board has discussed,” says Allan. “River District is one in the City of Vancouver, and of course the City of Burnaby has potentials. There is a development going in next door to us here and there are other developments that the city of Burnaby has interest in.”
Controversial Covanta
Metro Vancouver owns the Burnaby incinerator, but it is operated by incineration giant Covanta Energy. The New Jersey company operates 44 waste-to-energy incinerators around North America, Italy and China and has submitted two technology proposals to Metro Van for its new incinerator.
Burnaby incinerator main control room. Photo by M.Chisholm.
The company has won awards, but it's also no stranger to controversy. It has been cited for emissions and permitting violations, most recently on February 24 in Niagara, New York. Covanta was cited by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for failing to report a fire within the required time frame. Last August, Covanta was fined for performing work on its Niagara, New York facility without a license. In 2011, the Florida Centre for Investigative Reporting reported that a Covanta facility near Miami was listed as one of the top air polluters on the EPA Watch List. The company has also been the target of anti-incineration groups in England and Wales.
It is controversy that Covanta Vice President, Business Management, West Region Chris Baker did not want to talk about specifically with The Vancouver Observer.
Chris Allan (L) and Chris Baker, (R) Covanta Vice President, Business Management, West Region. Photo by M.Chisholm.
"We’ve had to continually educate people about the benefits of energy from waste, especially when you compare it to the alternative, which is landfill,” says Baker.
In 2010, Covanta agreed to install new nitrous oxide pollution controls on a New Jersey incinerator after allegations the company had broken numerous federal Clean Air Act regulations. Those allegations were contained in a law suit launched by a local environmental law group.
According to Metro Vancouver, the Covanta incinerator is operating well within all regulatory standards and there have been no violations other than the bottom and fly ash cadmium issues. Metro Van has just announced an $8 million emissions upgrade to catch more nitrogen oxides (NOx), part of a $30 million upgrade to the facility over the next few years.
“When you look across at all of our facilities with respect to existing permit levels, we operate 80-90 per cent below those existing permit levels,” says Baker. “We make improvements all the time, especially in respect to emissions such as nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions, which we are currently working together with Metro Vancouver to install that latest technology.”
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