Zero Chance for Zero Waste (Zero Waste Up in Smoke)
Well, our esteemed regional council has fulfilled their prophesy that Zero Waste is not possible. We are now doomed to feeding a giant burn barrel with enough garbage to keep it going for the next 35 years. That's several million tons of garbage that we and/or our neighbors (T.O.) will HAVE to produce to satisfy the demand this monster will require. The debate about safety has also been short sighted. It certainly won't improve anyone's health so that only leaves negative effects in my opinion. It certainly won't be safe for the environment and that is where I think the most important issue lies.
I'm very disappointed in the lack of vision and the disregard for meeting carbon reduction goals. I read one opinion in the local paper where the person made the case that incineration was a better solution for green house gases (GHG) than landfill. This is pretty misguided. His argument that methane produced in some landfills is a more potent GHG than the amount of CO2 that would be generated during incineration may be factually accurate but it totally misses the point of Zero Waste or even methane capture that many landfills currently employ. With Zero Waste you take out the organics and compost them. You change packaging laws to reduce the waste and make manufacturers create cradle to grave practices. Saying that this is a provincial and federal issue is merely a cop out. Think Local, Act Local is the new mantra. We have to take care of the garbage locally so we should damn well have control of the creation of the garbage in the first place.
Our Regional Council has doomed the next generation in Durham to the same old paradigm of irresponsible use of resources and consumerism that has plagued our generation. I guess it's easier to keep things the same when you probably won't be alive to see the rotten fruits of your short term thinking. I think this decision should have been made by a committee of 10 year olds; the ones who will really see and feel the outcome of this decision. I'm certain they would have chosen Zero Waste as the solution.


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