'Too many unknowns' prompt call to switch sewage-sludge plans

Victoria's mayor is calling for a last-minute change in plans for handling the Capital Region's sewage sludge.

Mayor Lisa Helps said she initially supported a proposal to generate electricity and revenue by gasifyingthe processed sludge along withkitchen scraps and other trash at the Hartlandlandfill in Saanich.

But a planning workshop last month revealed "too many unknowns" about the cost, the funding and even the challenge of obtaining a guaranteed supply of waste.

"All of those things were red flags for me," Helps toldOn the Island'sKhalilAkhtar.

Costs aside, the gasification plan's requirement fora continuous stream of garbage from the region's municipalitiesputs it at odds with the City of Victoria's goals, Helps said. "We're moving towards zero waste rather than more waste."

Now, with an imminentdecision Wednesday at the CRD board meeting, Helps is calling onregional politicians to put the brakes on the Integrated Resource Management plan.

In a staff report to the environmental services committee, CRDstaff makes a similar recommendation.

Helps said she originally supported the plan to combine the three waste streams because of the potential for revenue and climate change benefits.

"All of those things are fine at the idea stage, but as we move into procurement, and we have to get real about it, we have to check our assumptions," Helps said.

"What we heard from the consultants is there isn't a plant anywhere in the world that combines in one operation sewage sludge, kitchen scraps and municipal solid waste. And so, we don't want to be the first."

Meanwhile, she said, the proponent that was recently selected for the sewage sludge processing plantwill produce fully dried biosolidsat a lower-than-expectedcost, rather than Class A biosolids which are "still quite wet."

"They'll actually be useful as a marketable product in and of themselves. And so, that, for me, is also a game-changer,"Helps said.

CRDstaff recommend issuing arequest for proposals from potential buyers of the dried biosolids.

Helps said it's suitable for uses such as fuelforcement kilns, but an existing ban prohibits spreadingbiosolids on land as fertilizer or fill.

The regional districtstaff report also recommends a decision to initiate steps toward acomposting facility for kitchen scraps and yard waste at the Hartlandlandfill. Currently,kitchen scraps collected curbside in the CRDareshipped off-island for composting in Delta.