STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES : INCINERATION
Important Links
How to Get Involved
What you can do – you may do any or all of the following:
1. Write to Durham Region Council regarding your concerns about incineration/thermal treatment of waste – Durham and York Regions are the project proponents and leading the Environmental Assessment (EA) study. Send a copy to the Project Team Consultants.
2. Write to Clarington Council to encourage them to remain an unwilling host to an incinerator facility. Send a copy to the Project Team Consultants.
3. Write to the Region’s Project Consultants (see below) and send them copies of correspondence you send to any of the parties shown above. Any questions you ask of them MUST be addressed and included in the Environmental Assessment documentation that will be sent to the Ministry for final approval. It is another way to get your questions and concerns on the record. The more the better. Send a copy to Durham Region Council and Clarington Council.
4. You can cc or write directly to the Minister of the Environment, as well as the Project Officer for the EA, so your concerns are on the record with them, and so that they understand that there is much concern by residents/voters. Send a copy to Regional Council and the Project Team Consultants.
5. You can speak as a delegation at Council or GPA (local) or at Regional Council or Committee meetings if you so choose. Raising your concerns in person can be very effective.
6. If you wish to have your name included on our “Action/Alert” List, send an email to info@durhamenvironmentwatch.org. You will receive notification of upcoming events.
Recently released “Consultants’ Reports” have not fully considered alternatives other than incineration and have identified Courtice as the preferred location to build an incinerator.
Wherever it may be located, incineration is bad and its consequences are well documented. One would hope that elected politicians, both on the Clarington Municipal Council and the Durham Regional Council, would rise to their responsibilities and consider ALL the implications before reaching a decision.
There are numerous questions that should be addressed, such as:
· The presence of a thousand tons a day incinerator in Clarington;
· The prospects for lowered air quality and higher contributions to Green House Gases;
· The health related implications, such as cancers and respiratory problems;
· The effect on taxes of a capital project estimated at $250 Millions;
· The full “Curbside-To-Landfill” costs, including transportation costs;
· The consequences on property values;
· The impact on the food, dairy and water supplies;
· The implications for local agriculture and its financial viability;
· The anticipated effects on road traffic, congestion and pollution.
Politicians will have more incentive to examine these issues if Durham residents clearly indicate their concerns. Consequently, it is important to contact both Councils and the Project Team BEFORE the matter proceeds further. It is quick and easy to do so, but it should be done in writing.
It is quick and easy to do so, but it should be done in writing.
There are 4 easy steps to follow. Your letter or e-mail should be:
· addressed to Clarington and/or Durham Regional Clerk, to the attention of Council;
· concise, Just a few sentences is enough to get your concerns across.
· identifiable, i.e. containing your full name, address, telephone number;
· dated (and signed, if regular mail is used).
Note 1:
This should be addressed to the Clerk, so as to be properly put on record. It should contain the following: “Please make available to all councillors and include in next Council meeting’s agenda”.
Note 2:
You can increase your effectiveness if you also get your family and friends to also take action; spread the word.
Regional Council and Clarington Council must be swamped with letters and e-mails – yours. It is crucial our Council see and understand our community concerns.
We cannot afford to do nothing.
Letters should be addressed as follows:
| Using the Postal Service | Using E-Mail |
|
The Regional Municipality of Durham Att’n: Durham Regional Council |
Office of the Clerk, clerks@durham.ca |
|
Municipality of Clarington Municipal Office Att’n: Clarington Municipal Council |
Office of the Clerk, |
| Durham/York Residual Waste Study P.O. Box 42009 2851 John Street Markham, ON L3R 5R0 Telephone: (905) 307-8628 |
Durham/York Residual Waste EA Study - Consultantsinfo@durhamyorkwaste.ca |
| Hon John Gerretsen Ministry of the Environment 135 St. Clair Ave W, 15th Flr Toronto ON M4V 1P5 Tel 416-314-6790 Fax 416-314-6748 |
Hon John Gerretsen jgerretsen.mpp@liberal.ola.org |
| Gavin Battarino, Project Officer Environmental Assessment and Approvals Branch Ministry of the Environment 2 St. Clair Avenue West, Floor 12A Toronto, ON M4V 1L5 Telephone: (416) 314-8214 1-800-461-6290 Fax: (416) 314-8452 |
Gavin Battarino (MoE Project Officer assigned to this file)
|
| Gord Miller Environmental Commissioner of Ontario 1075 Bay Street, Suite 605 Toronto, ON M5S 2B1 Canada Tel: (416) 325-3377 Toll-Free: 1-800-701-6454 Fax: (416) 325-3370 |
Attn: Gord Miller Environmental Commissioner of Ontario commissioner@eco.on.ca |
Downloadable version of
How You Can Get Involved
Clarington Municipal contacts click here (Councillors)
Durham Region Contacts click here (Regional Councillors, all municipalities)
Also see the Links page for Clarington and Durham Region Contact Information.
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It is crucial our Council see and understand our community concerns.
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Incineration Fact Sheet (short - 1 page)
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Incineration Fact Sheet (long - 2 pgs)
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- Incineration of Municipal Solid Waste
- Impact on Global Warming - Fact Sheet 1
- An update on Pollution - Fact Sheet 2
- A reasonable Energy option? - Fact Sheet 3
- Understanding the Costs and Financial Risks - Fact Sheet 4
Updated Fact Sheet on Incineration
Please show our neighbors and politicians how you feel about the proposed incinerator, download our free Say No to Incineration Sign. Put hyperlink to download here.
Below is the Resoloution by the Durham Region Labour Council adopted by the Canadian Labour Council Executive October 2008.
RESOLUTION No. GR-47
(Submitted by the Durham Region Labour Council)
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) will confirm opposition to the principle of waste incineration;
Because incinerators prevent less costly and less polluting alternatives;
Because incinerators produce less energy than that saved by recycling and resource conservation;
Because incineration creates substances that are more toxic than the original waste;
Because incarceration perpetuates the use of landfills. Every three tons of waste incinerated generates one ton toxic ash containing heavy metals that leach into the soil thereby polluting groundwater;
Because incinerators remove incentives and pressures for corporations to redesign products and packaging to reduce toxins and conserve resources.
Message from Buzz Hargrove
EMERGENCY RESOLUTION NO. 1 DECEMBER 2007
WHEREAS building a waste incinerator encourages the building of more waste incinerators as they need a minimum amount of rubbish to operate. To meet demand, local authorities are abandoning recycling and waste reduction plants; and
WHEREAS even incinerators that generate electricity aren’t an energy-saving option. The energy used to produce the product will get lost anyway and only a fraction of the intrinsic energy content of the materials will be recovered. Recycling saves far more energy because it means making less new things from raw materials; and
WHEREAS one of the most insidious aspects of incineration is the entirely new and highly toxic chemicals that can be formed during the combustion process. When fragments of partially burned waste chemicals recombine within incinerator furnaces, smokestacks and/or pollution control devices, hundred, even thousands, of new substances are created, many of which are more toxic than the original waste itself, during the combustion process; and
WHEREAS waste incinerators cause pollution, a wide variety of adverse health effects including cancer, respiratory disease, disruption of the endocrine system and congenital birth defects, according to scientific studies, surveys by community groups and local physicians. Studies indicate that distant populations can be exposed to pollution from incinerators by ingesting contaminated plant or animal products. The costs to society of these adverse health effects are rarely included in economic analyses and are indeed difficult to quantify but should not be ignored; and
WHEREAS incineration actually perpetuates the use of landfills because of the large quantities of leftover ash produced by incinerators. It is estimated that for every three tons of waste that is incinerated, one ton of ash is generated. And, this ash is very toxic, containing concentrated amounts of heavy metals and dioxins which, when buried, will eventually leach into the soil, potentially polluting groundwater; and
WHEREAS the CAW Campaign for Extended Producer Responsibility will suffer negative impacts due to incinerators taking away the incentive and pressure for corporations to redesign their products and packaging to reduce toxics and conserve resources. On the other hand, community efforts into waste separation reuse and repair, recycling and composting can create more jobs, both in the handling of the waste and in secondary industries using recovered material; and
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that CAW Local 1520 reaffirms its position of opposition to the principle of waste incineration; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution be forwarded to CAW Council for support.
Respectfully Submitted By
CAW Local 1520 and the CAW Resolutions Committee
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