A group is lobbying area politicians in hopes of building a $200 million regional energy-from-waste facility.
The proposal would see Hastings County, along with Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, Peterborough, and Prince Edward counties truck their combustible garbage to a central facility where it would be incinerated, producing heat and electricity to generate revenue.
A delegation consisting of Ed McLellan, Raymond March, and Gordon Powell described the proposal for the Five Counties Energy-from-Waste Project to Hastings County’s Planning Committee Tuesday morning.
McLellan said one location that could be considered for the huge operation would be in the Havelock area which he said was in the geographical centre of the five county region. Together the five counties’ population is almost 500,000 people.
According to the group, the clean energy created by the incineration of the region’s garbage would be sold as heat and electricity, and the ash created could be sold to treat roads.
The facility’s energy could be sold into the provincial system once Pickering Nuclear is taken offline which is expected to occur in 2025.
It’s believed the facility would turn an annual profit of several million dollars. Landfill sites typically run at a loss and pollute the land, water, and air.
McLellan said the $200 million cost to build the plant could be borrowed from private lenders charging low interest rates and the money could be easily paid back on an annual basis out of its revenue streams.
The lifespan of such an energy-from-waste facility is estimated to be 78 years, after which it could simply be torn down leaving just unpolluted land behind.
Many on the Planning Committee were concerned about local people losing jobs and the cost of building transfer stations to store garbage.
The first step in the project is having a feasibility study done.
Hastings County Deputy Warden Bonnie Adams.
“So there would be some, I would believe, the transportation costs would be prohibitive but having said that we haven’t done the study so we really don’t know the answers.”
Hastings County’s share of the $200,000 feasibility study would be just over $18,000. The matter was sent to the Finance Committee for a recommendation.
