On the topic of garbage…
Michigan is moving to ban Canadian garbage from the state. Considering truckloads of Toronto’s garbage flows to Michigan every day, now might be a good time for the city to look seriously at new waste-destruction systems, including plasma-based technologies. Toronto is successfully dealing with its organic waste using a combination of anaerobic and aerobic processes, but that’s not enough. Geoff Rathbone, a director of waste management with the city, told me last week there is a Plan B in the event that Michigan closes its border but that plan is so far a well hidden secret.
Closure of the Michigan border to Toronto’s garbage means it will cost the city more to find another location, meaning the economics of alternative waste-destruction systems suddenly become more favourable.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca