The Emerald Energy from Waste facility has been operating in Peel since 1992, initially built and operated by Algonquin Power. The Region cancelled a waste burning contract with Algonquin in 2012 but the facility was sold to Emerald shortly thereafter and has been continuing operations by consuming waste from industrial, commercial and institutional sources.

In 2016, the Region considered building its own waste burning facility but cancelled those plans due to concerns about the pollution a second facility would emit. Instead it embarked on a plan to divert 75% of its waste by 2034, through a combination of improved policies, procedures and, technologies related to waste reduction, reuse, recycling and, composting.

The Region’s reward for this ambitious and progressive plan could be to become the garbage import capital of Ontario. Emerald Energy from Waste has submitted a proposal to the Ontario government to expand their burn capacity to 900,000 tones of garbage per year, more than a four-fold increase from today’s operation. This would make it the largest garbage burning facility in Canada and, once fully operational, would consume more than 1/3 of all of Ontario’s waste! Garbage would need to be trucked in from all over the Province to “feed the maw” of this massive new facility. And the Province is contributing $3M to the proposed facility for Emerald to look at using the generated electrical energy to produce hydrogen. On the other hand, there is no encouragement for the facility to make the waste heat from the operation available for a district energy project that would assist the municipality in meeting its GHG emissions reduction targets.

For this past Thursday’s Regional Council meeting, four Brampton Environmental Alliance members, , Steve Kirby, Julian Russell, Amisha Moorjani, and Polly Thornham submitted requests to delegate to ask the Region do what it can to stop the proposed expansion of the facility which is on the Brampton Mississauga border. Unfortunately Polly’s submission was denied due to an over-packed agenda.

Steve and Julian tag-teamed the first delegation. Steve outlined the issues with the proposed expansion including:

• The plant would generate additional greenhouse gases which would jeopardize City and Regional emissions reduction targets,
• In addition to GHGs, the plant would emit atmospheric pollutants including dioxins and furans at levels that, by the company’s own forecasts, would exceed federal safety guidelines. These toxins would accumulate in both soil and water over time. When consumed by living organisms, they are absorbed in the fat tissues, bio-accumulating with potentially lethal consequences,
• The European Union voted to stop subsidizing energy from waste facilities in 2019,

Julian Russell, a member of BEA’s Youth Council followed Steve’s presentation. Julian reminded Councillors that almost 40% of Peel’s residents are under the age of 29 and that they could face a long-term health risk from the emissions due to this plant expansion. He had three specific requests of Council,

• Council to send a letter to the Provincial Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Andrea Khanjin asking for an independent environmental assessment of this project,
• Direct Peel Public Health to collect data on the community health impacts of the proposed expansion and report back to Council before the end of summer,
• Direct Peel Public Health to provide a report with recommendations based on the Minister’s decision which is expected in September.

Steve and Julian’s delegation was followed by Karen Wirsig, Project Manager with Environmental Defence Canada. Karen pointed out that Ontario and Canada should be fostering a circular economy where waste products are recycled or reused rather than destroyed. The circular economy is an important step in environmental sustainability, reducing fossil fuel dependence and the rate at which resources are consumed faster than the earth’s ability to restore them. Karen indicated that waste burn facilities are the antithesis of the circular economy demanding large quantities of waste over many years to justify their existence and amortize their costs. She said that much of the current Emerald source waste comes from industrial and commercial polluters who are not required under Provincial law to sort waste into reusable streams. Incinerating waste removes the incentive for all waste producers to focus on waste reduction strategies but increases long-term health and environmental risks.

Amisha Moorjani followed Karen’s delegation. Amisha noted that Health Canada’s website includes a warning for people not to burn garbage that includes plastics or construction material such as treated wood as these materials produce toxins including dioxin and furans. Amisha noted that Emerald doesn’t know what it is burning as it doesn’t currently sort waste before it is burned. She questioned the ability of Peel’s Emergency Services to deal with pollution fall out when the stack filtration systems fail to live up to design standards during process start-up, shut-down or unanticipated power outages.

As a result of the delegations, Councillor Toor raised a motion that Peel staff be directed to analyse the health impacts of the Emerald proposal and report back with urgency. Thanks to all the delegates for coming out to speak about this important matter.