Waste plan delayed indefinitely

No one will be seeing Eastern Newfoundland's garbage game plan any time soon.

The Telegram has learned the committee devising the regional waste management strategy has abandoned the goal of submitting its final plan to the province by month's end.

Instead, Eastern Waste Management has decided to weigh another option against the one it had been pursuing.

Additional Excerpt:

While the delay will undoubtedly cause eyes to roll, it's the decision to look at the long-haul model that doesn't sit well with Fred Winsor of the Sierra Club.

"That's a bad move," he said bluntly.

Winsor feels the committee should be refocusing and looking at successful "separation at source" models where, once all the recyclable and reusable materials are taken out of the trash, the amount of waste that goes to a landfill is reduced by 80 or 90 per cent.

"And what happens at that point is the stuff is so benign - there's nothing toxic, there's nothing organic in it - so you could basically put it in a gravel pit. You wouldn't need a really high-tech landfill."