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


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


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