Solid Waste (Garbage) in the Greater Vancouver area is managed by GVRD (Metro Vancouver).   Currently the waste is disposed of at the Vancouver Landfill site and Cache Creek.  Both of these facilities have limited life expectancy with the current volume of waste being generated / disposed of at the locations.  Metro Vancouver is developing an updated solid waste management plan to help reach the 'zero waste' goals , and to find alternatives to the landfill sites.

 

Metro Vancouver has adopted a 'revised' target diversion rate of 70% -  70% of the 'waste' will be diverted to recycling, composting or other alternative processing rather than landfilling.  Currently there is about 3 million tonnes of waste being generated in the region, meaning that under a  70% diversion program, there will still be 1 milltion tonnes annually requiring some form of disposal.

 

The current proposals, and draft Solid Waste Management Plan, calls for incineration (or 'waste to energy') plants to burn the remaining waste, to generate electricity (via turbine) and heat (steam / hot water) energy that can be used to put power into the electrical 'grid' (ie: to houses and businesses) and for residential/commercial heating.

 

Waste to Energy is touted as a 'net benefit' in that the waste, rather than being landfilled and left to 'rot' generating GHG's, is burned and the energy is recaptured in that process - saving burning of fossil fuels, coal, or other GHG emitting processes that are currently used to generate heat and electricity.