With the town’s own meeting on the proposed test burn of film plastic at St. Marys Cement complete, all parties involved must play the waiting game to see if the Ministry of the Environment gives the green light for the test.
Approximately 20 or so members of the public attended the special meeting of town council Monday night to hear representatives from St. Marys Cement (SMC), town-hired third party consultants Conestoga Rovers & Associates, and town staff comment on the proposed test, and ask questions publicly.
In his opening remarks, Mayor Jamie Hahn called the meeting "exploratory," and stressed that "council has not yet made a decision" on what it thinks of the test burning of an alternative plastic fuel. He added that any decision would be based on "solid science" using a very "serious and thorough approach."
Martin Vroegh, SMC’s environmental manager, explained that its application to do the test was submitted to the Ministry of the Environment on Sept. 29. He added, however, that it was an "open" application, so that anyone who would like to submit additional comments could. The report of the test, if permitted to go ahead, would be made public.
As such, the minutes from Monday night’s meeting will be sent in to the Ministry as soon as possible. “We had to have the meeting,” explains Hahn, because where else would people have a chance to discuss this (on the public record)?”
He expressed disappointment that Ministry of Environment officials were not present at the meeting -- calling their decline to attend “bizarre” because they would be making the final decision on allowing the test.
Gord Reusing, a member of Conestoga Rovers & Associates, the consultants hired by the town, was on hand to explain how his firm would handle the peer review. But it was his company's past involvement that sparked the most concern.
Laraine Boscarato, who began the petition against the test (which garnered over 1,200 names) questioned Conestoga Rovers' past connection to Orgaworld, the would-be supplier of the plastic fuel.
Reusing explained that "he has no connection personally," but noted that his firm did provide engineering services to Orgaworld to build its St. Thomas facility to the point where it took on an ownership share rather than being paid.
He stressed, however, that Conestoga Rovers "have no interest as of March of this year – we are completely independent."
Boscarato pointed to an Industry Canada website that listed Rick Mosler – currently Orgaworld Canada's vice president – as being concurrently affiliated with Conestoga Rovers. Reusing explained that "it must be out of date –- we have no interest in Orgaworld."
(The Journal Argus will be researching these claims in time for next week’s issue).
Boscarato, after the discussion, commented that “I still haven’t gotten my resolve with Conestoga Rovers... I don’t believe they’re unbiased.”
Boscarato also took issue with SMC’s claims that the test burn likely wouldn’t increase emissions of hazardous dioxins and furans above what is already emitted -- and determined to be at 0.04 per cent of Ministry maximums.
Bridget Mills, a senior engineer with environmental consultants Pottinger Gaherty,  explained why SMC does not expect to see increases in dioxin and furan production. Since kilns are "controlled burning systems," she said, the plastics are initially destroyed due to the extreme heat of the kiln.
However, dioxins and furans can reform at temperatures between 350 and 400 degrees Celsius; therefore, Mills explained, it is necessary to speed the cooling process in the kiln so the air doesn't stay at this temperature. "We're not introducing huge amounts of chlorine and we're maintaining control of the system," she said.
Mills added that SMC will be doing stack tests, as well as ambient emissions tests, even though they're not required by the Ministry.
Boscarato also said that she had e-mailed noted environmentalist David Suzuki. She says that, in his reply, he said “that cement plants burning plastic waste as alternative fuel.  It's ridiculous," and to look at the example of Swan Hills in Alberta to see what can happen.
The Swan Hills Treatment Centre, located in the town of the same name, is a hazardous waste treatment facility, according to Earth Tech, which operates the facility on the province of Alberta’s behalf. According to its website (www.shtc.ca), it can handle 2,000 different types of waste, and incinerate at temperatures up to 1,200 degrees Celsius.
Janine Ralph, an environmental director with consulting firm Jacques Whitford, told Boscarato that the two facilities can't be compared because "Swan Hills is a hazardous waste facility" not a cement plant, and that the type of plastic being used have to be carefully reviewed.
Ralph added that "the difference in temperature (between a cement kiln and an incinerator" makes a world of different in the release of dioxins.
Boscarato defended Suzuki's thoughts, and added that a 1998 study from the US Environmental Protection Agency reported that burning hazardous waste (which could include plastic) in a cement kiln would result in an 80 per cent increase in dioxin emissions.
"The tiniest amount of dioxins can cause harm," she said, citing many health problems potentially caused by their release into the atmosphere, and that these dioxins are permanent in the environment.
Ralph urged Boscarato to ensure she is reviewing the most current studies on the issue, since technology can change rapidly, and also reiterated that “the type of plastic we’re using is not highly chlorinated”  to contribute to toxic emissions.
Coun. Marg Luna wanted to know how quickly the effectiveness of the test will be realized. Michael LePage of Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin consultants explained that some elements, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide, will be recorded in real time, whereas other samples will have to be tested at a lab, a process which takes about two weeks.
If problems arose, they would be shown first in the real-time tests, LePage explained, and if something really dangerous occured, the plant would automatically shut down.
Others wondered if the test results, as well as the third-party review, would be made public, and both Conestoga Rovers and SMC assured they would be.
The town and SMC still need to reach an agreement on if any type of rezoning would be required for the test to proceed.