Metro Vancouver and the Ministry of Environment are trying to figure out what to do with thousands of tonnes of potentially hazardous material pumped out by a Burnaby waste to energy facility.
Regional district solid waste manager Paul Henderson says ash, with levels of cadmium exceeding allowable limits, was produced by the facility in July and August.
“Roughly 2000 tonnes of material was delivered to Cache Creek [landfill] during July and August that we are uncertain about and so we are working again with Wastech and the Ministry of Environment to investigate that fly ash and determine whether it is most appropriate to leave it or alternatively whether there is a requirement to remove it.”
Henderson says Covanta, the US company running the Burnaby incinerator, didn’t inform Metro Vancouver until a month later, September 26th.
“We are working closely with Covanta and Wastec and our other partners again to understand exactly what happened as far as the specific reasons for why the information wasn’t communicated to both Wastec and Metro Vancouver earlier Covanta would actually be the best entity to ask that question of.”
Henderson says once they were notified they took action right away.
“Starting immediately we stopped transporting the fly ash to Cache Creek we immediately notified the Ministry of Environment in Surrey. Since the incident was identified we have been testing every single load of ash that is generated at the facility and all that ash has passed the requirement to be managed as municipal solid waste.”
For their part Covanta says there is nothing to see here.
In an email response the company chalks the whole thing up to mistake in the testing.
They say the tests through both months of July and August were simply an aberration and the ash is not hazardous at all.
They point to 100% positive tests on the shipments of ash since the end of September.
As for the month long delay in informing Metro Vancouver, the company says it was nothing deliberate just a communications lapse, one they deeply regret.
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