The Durham York Energy Centre in Clarington east of Toronto began burning its first haul of curbside garbage Friday morning. It is the second phase in testing the newly-built plant before it opens fully to the incineration of the area’s waste. It is a profound time as the technology, which is well-proven and in use all over the world, stands to put an end to the mindless destruction of agricultural land by garbage dumping. “We had what they call first fire today,” said Cliff Curtis, commissioner of works for Durham Region. “They are still in the testing phase, but it’s the first time they fired the plant with garbage,” he said. Since last November, it has been using natural gas to test the various systems, “and now we are switching over to garbage to make sure it works as well.” The energy-from-waste plant, built by Covanta Energy Corporation, is the first to be built in the GTA in more than two decades, and will be able to process 140,000 tonnes of residual waste a year from Durham and York regions that would have otherwise gone to landfill. Energy-to-waste is a well established means of dealing with garbage in the far east, especially Japan and in many parts of Europe like Denmark and Scandinavia. It has also been put forward by Jim Harnum, head of Toronto’s solid waste management services. Toronto has fallen behind many municipalities in this technology. There has been a deeply rooted opposition to any kind of incineration and this included former mayor Miller. The only alternative however has been landfill. According to Durham Region, the facility will generate between 17.5 gross megawatts of renewable energy — enough to power between 10,000 and 12,000 homes. Over the past few years, the project has faced opposition from locals concerned about emissions and the cost to taxpayers. The final price tag is $286.56 million, according to the Region. There is also an energy-from-waste incinerator being built in Brampton. Common sense of waste to energy
