EFW Proponents Begin Community Outreach

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 Energy from waste plants not the smoke belching monsters of old
 Artist concept of Danish EFW plant which incorporates a living wall and ski slope

Proponents of the EFW plant proposed for Duke Point hosted an information meeting featuring Mr. John Foden of the Canadian Energy from Waste Coalition. The coalition represents a diverse array of organizations with an interest in energy-from-waste.

Mr. Foden's presentation addressed many of the issues which surround what has become a contentious issue in Nanaimo. This opposition seems in contrast to the 83% approval ratings, surveys indicate the Canadian population has for the acceptance of the energy from waste concept.

During the presentation it became apparent that many of the objections being raised in Nanaimo are not based on current fact-based reality of the industry. The image of the smoke belching, blazing beast which seems the image opponents embrace, was countered with images of modern day energy from waste plants which house daycare, are in the middle of Paris, have a restaurant mounted on the top of the chimney or the Danish model which includes a living wall and ski hill as part of the facility.

The concept of achieving zero waste, while a desirable goal is simply not practically attainable and even with very high levels of participation there will always be 25 - 35% of our waste that must be either converted to energy or put in a landfill.

The point was made that we could likely recycle everything if there were no limits put on the cost of achieving that goal.

The consortium made up of Seaspan, Wheelabrator and Urbaser will be launching an information website within the next two weeks to provide information about their proposed energy from waste plant they would like to see at Duke Point. They will also be hosting open houses over the coming weeks to help answer questions and concerns Nanaimo residents have about this project.