From the source of the sun come lessons in ecological enterprise

Necessity, it is said, is the mother of invention, but apparently, it is also the maternal parent of industry. For the Japanese, a people densely settled on four fairly large islands (and many smaller ones), the piling of garbage at dump sites is not a viable solution to the problems of what to do with waste material.

"They've had gasification factories for thirty years, and these installations are some of the largest sites for the treatment of waste in the world" states Stéphane Pineault, coordinator of policy and development for the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM).

In the cities of Chiba, Tokyo, Kawaguchi, Nagoya, and Tokai the delegation met with local elected officials and directors of factory-building companies. They learned that in Japan the gas obtained in the process of treating waste material (syngaz) is burned, vaporized, and used to turn the turbines of central powers stations.

In Quebec hydroelectricity is cleaner, Mr. Pineault points out. Gasification, however, opens up interesting possibilities if the syngas could be converted to ethanol, as proposed by Enerken, a Sherbrooke-based company, he notes. The conversion of waste at elevated temperatures also produces solid granular by-products which can be used as filler in the construction industry.

The environmentalist is also aware of the issues that need to be addressed by the five sectors of the CMM, of which Laval as a city and metropolitan regional community is part.

The visit to Japan gave the elected representatives one more opportunity to push forward their intention to produce a blueprint for the management of equipment and technology related to waste materials. The CMM is expecting that each region will have done its 'homework' by the end of December, 2008.

Gasification factories are voracious, and could very well lead to their gobbling up of all garbage, including putrescent (perishable, degradable) waste that could otherwise be used for agricultural compost, these environmentalists say, in essence. They argue that there are some murky waters to navigate when attempting to determine the ecological impact of these factories. Regarding this issue, the Commission sur les transports et l'environnement, which submitted its report on the management of residual materials June 10, "favours a moratorium on the development of energy projects until a framework of rules and regulations is put in place."

In the same report, the commission makes a recommendation to the Quebec government to launch an infrastructure funding program for the development of energy (derived from waste management), preferring this type of technology over the burying of garbage in dumps.

In the meantime, every effort must be made in recycling and composting, emphasizes Stéphane Pineault. For a good reason: it's cheaper. "But despite composting efforts, we will find ourselves more and more at the limit of what people can do," he concludes.

Photo:AngNip

(Photo: Courrier Laval Files)