Canadian Idol alumnus Shane Wiebe and his wife, Angela, have released a new ditty to burn up the airwaves and, they hope, smother plans for additional garbage incinerators in the region.
Landfill In The Sky, sung by to the tune of Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit In The Sky, is a “light way,” Wiebe said, to bring attention to the issue of incinerators and air quality in the Fraser Valley.
“The landfill either ends up in the ground, the ocean or the air,” Wiebe said.
“Research is showing us that burning our garbage just doesn’t work, it simply creates particulate matter in our air.”
But Metro Vancouver spokesman Bill Morrell said increased waste-to-energy incineration would improve air quality in the Fraser Valley because the garbage would not have to be transported through the valley to the region’s landfill in Cache Creek.
He said incineration contributes about 0.3 per cent of fine particulate matter, compared to 15 per cent for open burning.
Metro Vancouver aims to divert 70 per cent of garbage by 2015 through recycling and composting. If it reaches that goal, it would however still be saddled with disposing more than one million tonnes of garbage a year.
Consultation is underway on a new integrated solid waste and resource management plan for the region.
