A company planning to build a green waste compost facility in the Tri-Cities passed its first hurdle in the approval process Monday night after Port Coquitlam council voted unanimously to endorse the project.
Cascade Renewable Carbon Corporation is proposing a 3.65-acre plant south of the Lougheed Highway, west of the Mary Hill Bypass, that will process food scraps, yard trimmings and other organic material.
With PoCo's approval the company can now move forward with obtaining a composting facility licence from Metro Vancouver.
"Clean organics recycling is an environmentally friendly way of dealing with waste," said Coun. Brad West, who also chairs the city's environmental enhancement committee.
"It is far more preferable than sending it to a landfill."
Controversy has surrounded the project since a pamphlet was distributed door-to-door across PoCo in late October, which Cascade owners said contained numerous inaccuracies and was likely the work of a rival corporation.
The flyer said it was from the Coalition for an Environmentally Friendly Port Coquitlam, however neither the city nor several prominent Tri-City environmentalists had heard of the group and no contact information was provided.
More than 80 people attended an open house last month that was held to clear up some of the rumours surrounding Cascade's proposal.
Several residents had concerns about air quality and odours coming from the facility, however staff said the company's processing method uses closed container technology and would not produce any smells.
"We have the proper regulations in place," said Mayor Greg Moore. "There are more regulations with this facility than any other facility in our industrial area."
There are still several more steps required before Cascade can open its doors and start processing waste.
If Metro Vancouver signs off on the project the application will come back to city hall for a business licence and development permit, according to a city staff report.
Coun. Darrell Penner said he supported Cascade's plans, adding compost technology is something the region should have been using sooner.
"It should have been done 20 or 30 years ago," he said. "It could have reduced our landfills by hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste.... It is frustrating from that perspective."
Coun. Mike Forrest concurred, adding that the city's current method of shipping green waste to a facility in Richmond was not sustainable. He said the city and Metro Vancouver would be closely monitoring Cascade's operations.
"From an ethical point of view there is something wrong with shipping our garbage to someone else's backyard," he said. "This facility is a positive move."
