Companies have big plans for Metro's garbage
One proposal would burn waste in a long-closed pulp mill in Gold River to generate electrical power
As Metro Vancouver inches closer to deciding what to do with its garbage, some of the companies offering potential solutions are doing their best to be noticed.
Today, it's the turn of Covanta Energy and Green Island Energy, two companies that planned to unveil an update of a plan to turn a long-closed pulp mill at Gold River into a garbage incinerator.
They are promising that the plan to burn Metro's garbage in one of Vancouver Island's most depressed regions could create 130 permanent jobs, $30 million in annual economic activity and a $500-million boost during construction.
Covanta wants to convert the Bowater Mill, which closed in 1999, into an incinerator at a cost of up to $550 million.
It would then take 700,000 metric tonnes of Metro Vancouver's garbage a year to the island by barge, burn it and convert it into 90 megawatts of power, said Covanta vice-president Tom Lyons.
The site already has the power lines needed to funnel the energy into the provincial power grid.
Municipalities would have drop off their garbage at the Port of Metro Vancouver.
The proposal is one of dozens that have come forward since Metro Vancouver starting looking at options to deal with the region's solid waste. Today's announcement builds on a proposal made to Metro in 2006 during an earlier search for garbage solutions.
