Response from my forward….
þ Pete Pasterz, NCQRP
Cabarrus County Recycling and HHW
PO BOX 707
Concord, NC 28026
www.cabarruscounty.us/waste
If you're not for ZERO Waste, how much Waste ARE you for?
From: Zero Waste Forum
[mailto:CONS-EQST-WASTE-FORUM@no.address] On Behalf Of Helen
Spiegelman
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2008 10:16 AM
To: CONS-EQST-WASTE-FORUM@no.address
Subject: Re: Toronto's troubled Food Scrops compost program
Importance: High
Hello Maureen and ZW Cttee members,
Maureen rightly says that we should not gloss over failures of Toronto's
composting program.
However, I strongly urge that these criticisms be framed in a broader argument
that is a challenge to municipalities and their contracted services to solve
the problems.
In our community the bad news from Toronto is being invoked by the
incineration industry to convince nervous politicians that they should
invest in "proven" mass burn incinerators instead.
I hope Maureen and others on this list share my view that the risks from
incineration are far greater than the risks from source-separated organics
composting. I am convinced that it is theoretically possible to manage organics
safely, and that if we do so we can reduce the environmental impact of our
waste significantly. I am equally convinced that it is theoretically impossible
to manage waste safely in a mass-burn incinerator.
Please let us align our efforts around pressuring municipal engineers and
politicians to develop effective, sound composting systems, rather than
smearing all composting by association with Toronto's failing plants.
Helen.
At 07:04 AM 10/10/2008, Maureen Reilly wrote:
Dear Sierra ZW
I am again dismayed to see Toronto's troubled food scraps compost program
misrepresented to no less than 3 list serves (ZW, GreenYes, . It cannot
do the green movement any good to pretend that a program that has spawned
successful lawsuits against its facilities, bankrupcy of two more, and outrage
against the stench in every community it go to.
Toronto's food waste compost troubles do need to be examined for where it has
failed and these failings need act as a teaching instrument in other
cities. To lie about the program is to encourage similar disasters in
other cities.
Toronto is sending their food waste to Newmarket - which is under court order
to operate at only 10% capacity, and so is the Dufferin facility. You can
read the court order at a link below.
The digested foodwaste is then sent out to other unhappy communities to
'compost' or finish. All Treat Farms is one of those places, and the
neighbors to the facility in Arthur Ontario are up in arms and the Ministry of
Environment is having to set up community meets to discuss plans to stop the
stink from the facility
see: Composter Battles Odour Problems
http://www.gwmc.ca/composter-battles-odour-problems/120.html
"In a report to City Council in advance of the June 2007 decision,
Toronto's solid waste staff noted that “experience to date with contracted
processing capacity teaches that disruptions and failures are common, and that
the facilities are often unable to respond with adequate contingency measures.”
This has led the City to sign a number of short-term SSO management contracts,
which staff feels “is not sustainable in the long-term.”
(for full story see:http://www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/001723.html)
The Toronto food waste compost was sent eight hours trucking route down the
highway to the Province of Quebec at GSI and Fertival for composting.
Both of these facilities are now bankrupt and closed. And how is a 16 hour
truck trip consistent with environmental goals or Zero Waste?
The public is very willing to participate in these waste diversion
programs. But the City of Toronto has failed to manage those food
wastes. Toronto has abandoned food waste into two far off bankrupted out
of province compost facilities, got court orders against two more compost
facilities it was using in Toronto and Newmarket, and has raised the ire
of the residents of Arthur Ontario home of yet another troubled compost
operation.
I can't find one place Toronto is putting its food waste that isn't either
bankrupt or outraged by stink.
This is NOT a successful or sustainable program. You are inviting
disaster to tell people to go do likewise.
Maureen Reilly
Sludge Watch
Here is more info on the Newmarket facility where Toronto intended to
send most of its food waste (SSO = Source Separated Organics)
The new owners were court ordered to shut the facility and the facility is now
running at only 10 percent capacity. York Region was trucking source separated
organics 7 hours away into Quebec when that solution stopped.
The Region has now turned to incineration of its organics. see the story Jun
26, 2008
Why? because they couldn't get the compost facility to run without a stench to
the neighbors.
The story you relate about compost in Newmarket is wholesale fiction.
This sorry history points to the need for strong permit controls on siting and
air emissions and quality controls on compost operations... not 'voluntary'
pollution controls on compost facility.
The Newmarket Ontario facility you refer to was causing odors and complaints
when run by Canada Composting. Then it was bought and run by Halton Recycling.
Then Halton Recylcing was court ordered shut by a judge acting on a lawsuit
filed by the municipality and closed in 2007
Read the press (or just google "Newmarket compost problems")
Newmarket sets municipal law precedent
NEWMARKET, Ontario, October 3, 2006 — On Friday, September 29, the Superior
Court of Justice in Newmarket concluded that the odours emanating from Halton
Recycling Ltd. (Halton) are a public nuisance and ordered the plant to close
until June 28, 2007. The closure will take effect 90 days from the Court’s
decision date, which means Halton’s premises will be closed on December 30,
2006 unless Halton successfully demonstrates to the Court that there is no
longer a public nuisance.
You can read court documents here:
http://www.newmarket.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_3733_1.html
York Region turns to incineration of organic waste:
http://www.georginaadvocate.com/News/Regional%20News/article/77344
Green bin program hits major setback
Regional News
Jun 26, 2008 10:11 PM
By: Patrick Mangion
York Region has resorted to incinerating as much as one-third of its organic
waste in what can be considered a major setback to the celebrated green bin
program.
Composting of curbside collected green bin material is the preferred process.
Instead, 500 tonnes of the 1,500 tonnes of organic waste collected weekly in
York Region is being shipped to Covanta Niagara L.P. in New York, where it is
burned to create electricity and steam in the Niagara area, said Mike Birett,
York’s manager of waste diversion.
The region has aggressively promoted source separated organics diversion as a
cornerstone of diverting waste from landfills.
However, the region began trucking some of its green bin waste to New York in
March and will continue to do so for at least another three months, Mr. Birett
said.
The problem originated at GSI Environment Inc., an organics processing plant in
Quebec, where York Region had been shipping about 11,000 tonnes of organic
waste each year.
Due to operational and permit issues, the Quebec Environment Ministry curtailed
operations, leaving York Region to seek a new processor.
“I wouldn’t characterize it as a huge blow. It was unwelcomed news,” Mr. Birett
said, adding the region is still on pace to meet its 65-per-cent landfill
diversion rate by 2010.
When the blue box program was introduced several years ago, municipalities were
challenged with finding end markets for the material. Experts have suggested
there will be similar growing pains with the green bin.
In Toronto, the green bin program has been delayed in apartment buildings
because the city can’t find anyone to process the additional waste.
The City of Guelph has been sending all 10,000 tonnes of its organic waste to
Covanta since 2006 after it was unable to find a composting facility to process
its waste.
But Mr. Birett defended York’s aggressive plans.
“Unless we show leadership, we’re never going to meet our diversion target.
Somebody has to be first out of the gate and take a chance. There will always
be challenges,” he said.
Planning for York’s green bin program began eight years ago. It was launched in
the region’s six northern municipalities last September after starting in the
south end of the region.
York is expected to spend $10.1 million processing green bin waste this year,
including $65 per tonne shipping waste to the New York incinerator.
However, before GSI experienced difficulties, the region had been paying $135
per tonne to process organics at the Quebec facility.
But York Region may have moved too quickly with its green bin program, said
Donald Dewees, an economics professor at the University of Toronto,
specializing in recycling and waste management.
“Leadership is a good thing. But you have to ask, how confident are you, over
time, you will find uses for the material you’re recycling. You should go very
slowly if there’s no end market,” he said.
“Politicians like getting credit for doing the right thing ... the green thing.
Starting a recycling program looks pretty good,” Mr. Dewees said.
Given the cost of recycling programs are higher than landfill, when
taxpayer-funded initiatives don’t live up to expectations, decision-makers can
expect a community backlash, Mr. Dewees said.
“I think (York Region residents) are going to be upset. People are willing to
participate in the blue box and green bin programs because they want to do the
right thing. It’s a way for you, personally, to make a difference and help the
environment,” he said.
The decision to incinerate York’s organic waste was difficult, but it was the
right call, said Newmarket Regional Councillor John Taylor, also a member of
the solid waste committee.
Sending organic waste to an electricity-from-waste plant for six months was
better than landfilling excess waste, he said.
Newmarket’s Halton Recycling was expected to handle a significant amount of the
region’s organic waste, however, the company and its predecessor, Canada
Composting Inc., encountered continuous operational issues.
Nearby businesses and residents complained of pungent odours and, as a result,
Halton operations have been restricted, since the fall of 2006, to 10 per cent
of its total capacity.
Meanwhile, the region has several options to ensure its organic waste is
processed at composting facilities, rather than incinerated.
Last spring, the region signed a 29-month contract with a Welland, ON,
composting facility. It takes effect Aug. 1 and is expected to eliminate York’s
need for incineration of organic waste.
York has an option for an additional 30,000 tonnes of organic waste processing
capacity by December from one of its existing contractors.
York is also considering a partnership with Dufferin County to build an organic
waste processing facility with 40,000 tonnes of capacity a year available to
York Region.
http://www.georginaadvocate.com/News/Regional%20News/article/77344
From: Pete Pasterz
<PAPasterz@no.address>
Reply-To: Zero Waste Forum <CONS-EQST-WASTE-FORUM@no.address>
To: CONS-EQST-WASTE-FORUM@no.address
Subject: FW: organics treatment in big cities
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:13:07 -0400
Please excuse any cross postings...
þ Pete Pasterz, NCQRP
Cabarrus County Recycling and HHW
PO BOX 707
Concord, NC 28026
www.cabarruscounty.us/waste
If you're not for ZERO Waste, how much Waste ARE you for?
From: GreenYes@no.address [mailto:GreenYes@no.address]
On Behalf Of Brenda Platt
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2008 6:34 AM
To: Cecilia Allen
Cc: gaia-members@no.address; GreenYes@no.address
Subject: [html][heur] [GreenYes] Re: [GAIA] Info request: organics treatment in
big cities
Importance: Low
Hi Cecilia,
Toronto has a great program. Yard trimmings are composted. Food scraps (along
with diapers, pet waste, kitty litter, tissues/paper towels) are collected
separately each week and anaerobically digested. The city cut back trash
collection to once every other week. This has greatly increased participation
in the organics collection program (which is 95% on a monthly basis). The City
has a 70% diversion goal and is at 42% citywide currently. Single-family
households have reached above 60% diversion (510,000 single-family
households). Toronto is Canada's largest city and has 2.6 million people.
The program serves 1 million. The City cites 3 Bs of success: Bins, Bags,
and Biweekly trash collection. Regarding the bags, the city allows residents to
put their food scraps in regular polyethylene plastic bags. Regarding
Bins, the city provides two bins for the organics collection, green 45 liter
bin, which is set out at the curb, as well as a smaller bin for use in the
kitchen. This bin was specially designed for the program (to facilitate
dish scraping for instance) and can be wall mounted if desired (but easily
removed for use).
The digester used currently was originally designed to handle 25,000 metric
tons per year but handles 40,000. It cost $10 million but only flares the
methane. The city is in the process of building two more, each at $22
million and with capacities of 55,000 tons per year. These new digesters will
recover the methane for energy. Currently there are 4 stages to the
anaerobic digestion system: (1) centrifugal removal of gross contaminants
and plastic bags with hydropulpers, (2) anaerobic digestion of material in 8 to
10 days, (3) screw press digestate to solid form, (4) final finishing of digestate
at windrow site with leaf and other yard trimmings.
The city is still rolling out this program. Starting Nov. 1st, it will be
targeting multi-family dwellings. Starting Nov. 1st the city will begin
paying for the program by becoming a Solid Waste Utiliy and using
pay-as-you-throw fees rather than through the previous tax base. 23% of
homes have signed up for the small trash bin, 8% for the large one, and the
rest for the medium size. Grass clippings, by the way, are not permitted
in the yard waste program. Residents must grasscycle and the city offers
mulching mowers at a subsidized rate.
Brenda
--
Brenda Platt
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
927 15th Street, NW, 4th Fl
Washington, DC 20005
202-898-1610 ext. 230
www.ilsr.org
On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 11:51 AM, Cecilia Allen <cecilia@no.address>
wrote:
Hi all,
We´re looking for experiences of treatment of organic municipal solid waste in
big cities, as part of our efforts to make Buenos Aires city start treating its
organic waste as a key implementation of its ZW law. Do you know of big cities
that are treating the organic fraction of their MSW through compost or
anaerobic digestion? Or do you know of good compost or anaerobic digestion
plants in your countries that are treating a big amount of source segregated
organics? We have info on San Francisco already, and we are looking for other
examples. We are suggesting strategies at different scales, and we lack
information on plants with high treatment capacity.
Thank you in advance,
Cecilia
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