Re: [greenyes] FYI... waste is first out the Kyoto gate!

[Helen Spiegelman <hspie@no.address>]

You have raised a brilliant question below, Eric.

Here in Vancouver our landfill is earning praise and awards for beneficial 
use of landfill gas. Landfill captured from the landfill is used to 
generate heat for a greenhouse and electricity that is sold onto the grid.

However the City of Vancouver continues to send significant quantities of 
organic materials to the landfill. A regional waste study found that over 
one-third of the waste in the region is yard waste, food waste, and 
contaminated paper products.

It seems to me that by encouraging the development of organics diversion 
programs, starting with commercial organics (from grocery stores, 
restaurants, etc.) the City of Vancouver should get extra credit for 
PREVENTION. As we know, the efficiency of methane gas capture is not great 
and it is likely that as much gas is getting away from the landfill as is 
being harnessed. This is a strong argument to put our resources into 
prevention rather than end-of-pipe solutions.

I am copying this to Councillor David Cadman, who is very committed to city 
initiatives to support the Kyoto goal. Maybe he knows of federal incentives 
that could help Vancouver pursue a preventative approach.

Helen.

At 10:22 AM 12/9/2004, Eric Lombardi wrote:

> First Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism Project Approved.



> The
> Netherlands' Clean Development Mechanism Facility (NCDMF) will purchase
> greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions from the NovaGerar project in
> Rio de Janiero Brazil thus becoming the first such Clean Development
> Mechanism (CDM) project approved under the Kyoto Protocol. NovaGerar is
> a joint venture of the Brazilian finance company EcoSecurities and SA
> Paulista, a Sao Paolo construction firm. NovaGerar will collect methane
> gas from two dumpsites and combust the methane to supply electricity to
> the grid. Excess landfill gas will be flared, with the combined measures
> reducing emissions of methane by 12 million tons over the next 21 years.
> CDM is a flexible mechanism of the Protocol that allows OECD countries
> to fulfill some of their GHG emission reduction through capacity
> building and market creation projects in developing countries. (The
> World Bank Group, November 18, 2004,
> http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0%2C%2CcontentMDK:20283779
> ~menuPK:34463~pagePK:64003015~piPK:64003012~theSitePK:4607%2C00.html)
>
>
> I sure would appreciate it if some of you Zero Waste economist types
> would dig into this "CDM" system to educate the rest of us on how it
> works and whether or not "organics diversion from landfills" would also
> get credit (and money).   Seems to me if someone is getting GHG economic
> value for capturing and burning methane from landfills, then what about
> those of us reducing the gas before it occurs?  Don't we get credit
> somehow, somewhere?
>
> Eric Lombardi
> Executive Director
> Eco-Cycle, Inc
> Boulder, CO
> 303-444-6634
> www.ecocycle.org