Waste diversion vs incineration
Toronto Star / Catherine Porter / 03 April 2010
This facility is the city’s biggest recycler by default. Opponents say it is actually to blame for the fact Detroit doesn’t recycle.
And that’s a sobering idea for Durham Region residents who would rather continue the push for a zero-waste strategy than give the region an easy out for its near-term waste disposal problems as Michigan prepares to shut its door to Canadian garbage.
Detroit is the last big U.S. city without an extensive recycling program. Buy a soda downtown, and your only option is to chuck the can in a garbage bin. From most homes, you’ll have to take it to a recycling depot yourself. The first curbside program was launched only last summer, picking up recyclables in two areas that together cover only 10 percent of the city.
“You need to feed the machine,” explains Brad Van Guilder, an environmental activist with the Ecology Center who has led an eight-year campaign to shut down the incinerator. “You need to feed things into the boiler that burn well — paper, plastic, wood. Those are all materials that are highly recyclable.”
“It’s a clash of philosophies,” he says. His message for Durham: Learn from Detroit’s example and don’t build it.
