Brockville Climate Action Group

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.

 
A new campaign has targeted March 11 as the day students and workers on Canadian campuses take back their taps and fountains. Bottled Water Free Day is a joint project of the Canadian Federation of Students, Sierra Youth Coalition and Polaris Institute and looks at how free access to water becomes more difficult as public drinking fountains and other infrastructures are not being maintained or designed in new buildings. Bottled water corporations are moving in to corner the market, replacing public infrastructure with private vending machines.

Robert Laporte, CEO of Neutopia EcoSolutions, responds to Recorder & Times report of January 7:

I'm pleased to see you have posted a link to the recent article in the R&T regarding Neutopia's recycling and renewable energy multiplex. However, I'm writing to inform you that the media is making some errors in their descriptions in that we are NOT going to be using pyrolysis for municipal waste; the pyrolysis system will be in another building in the clean energy and mineral isolation section. This seems to be confusing to a lot of people because we talk about pyrolysis of biomass at our meetings, and discuss the potential benefits of producing biochar for use in agriculture. We explain that it is being "hailed by some as a type of super-fertilizer" (bad choice of words), and that some studies show the potential to increase crop yields among a host of other benefits. The biochar production plant is only a component of the entire renewable energy park and has nothing to do with the municipal waste sorting and recycling facility.

As reported in the Recorder and Times on January 7, Mississauga-based Neutopia EcoSolutions has asked area municipal politicians to consider a proposal for a waste-to-electricity biorefinery plant in Johnstown.

"There is a minimum amount of waste required to make it viable," Neutopia EcoSolutions CEO Robert Laporte told The Recorder and Times. "For a project of this scope ... we need a co-ordinated effort from all the townships and cities that would be involved. All the communities would benefit."

Welland Tribune / Maggie Riopelle / 29 September 2009

Biochar has many potential applications that can benefit the environment -- helping soil retain nutrients, mitigating climate change, and processing energy.

Biochar Ontario held a demonstration and presentation on biochar -- the name used for agricultural charcoal -- this past weekend.