Yukon Energy is looking into using municipal waste and waste wood to produce electricity and district heating. There will be a public workshop on this subject.

There’ll be presentations from experts, and Yukon Energy will share the results of a recent study that examines the viability of using these alternative energies in the territory. You’ll have a chance to ask questions and share your views.

The Power of Waste
Public Workshop hosted by Yukon Energy
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011, 7 – 9 pm
Old Fire Hall, Whitehorse

For more info 867-393-5333, communiciations@yukonenergy.ca, www.yukonenergy.ca.

Waste Matters: Burning Garbage to Create Electricity
So you thought the garbage burning issue was over? Not so friends. Yukon Energy wants to burn our garbage to meet just 1% of our energy needs. They see garbage as a potential fuel, we see it as a resource worth saving.

Top Ten Reasons Why to Say No to Incineration
1. Incinerators Pollute –Combustion takes apart and recombines chemicals into new supertoxins that slip undetected through emission controls and are known to cause cancer, birth defects, damage organs and create other significant health issues.

2. Waste Doesn’t Go Away – What goes in must come out…it is just converted into air pollution and ash. 10%-20% of what goes in comes out as ash. You still need a landfill to bury the toxic scrubbers and ash, and this is a toxic liability.

3. Incineration is a Waste OF Energy – The 2.2MW of power this incinerator may produce is a fraction of what is needed. Plus, once something is burned we need to go back and make a whole new product from scratch. This uses waaaaay more energy than the smidgen that can be recovered from burning it.

4. Incinerators Burn Recyclables – Incinerators need a constant supply of waste. The trash that is most easily burned is the most preventable and recyclable waste (ie. packaging and paper products). This proposal is based on burning roughly 14,000 tonnes of materials that could be recycled or composted.

5. Incinerators Are the Most Costly Waste Management Option — The proposed incinerator costs $30million. An investment of that kind in recycling and composting would create a state of the art processing facility with convenient pickup services for all sectors and still have money left over.

6. We Need Better Recycling First — Places that have incinerators typically have aggressive recycling and composting programs in place BEFORE deciding to burn the rest. Right now recycling and composting diverts only 19% of a possible 75% of waste from the Whitehorse landfill.

7. Incinerators Undermine Real Solutions — With an incinerator there is no incentive to reduce, recycle or compost. It is a quick fix for Yukon Energy, but it undermines any momentum and infrastructure built thus far that supports recycling and composting.

8. Incinerators Burn Local Jobs – For every dollar invested in recycling and zero waste programs, we get ten times as many jobs as in incineration. These are local respectable jobs that conserve resources and build community.

9. An Incinerator By Any other Name….Is Still an Incinerator. Calling it Waste to Energy, Gasification, Pyrolysis doesn’t change that it is burning garbage. This is not new technology, just new marketing.

10. Taxpayers on the Hook — Incinerators are the only facilities that charge for the fuel they consume. Tipping fee revenues would now go to the incinerator. How can the City pay for the landfill and other services with no tipping fee revenues? Our guess, with higher taxes.

“Even if you could make [incinerators] safe, you could never make them sensible” – Dr. Paul Connett, Professor of Chemistry at St.Lawrence University
Talk to your MLA or City Council and tell them you don’t want to see the Yukon’s future go up in toxic smoke. Communities all over Canada have stopped attempts to build these polluting wasteful facilities…don’t let Whitehorse be the first to prove them right.