Detroit trash incinerator will keep burning

The City of Detroit will continue to burn trash at the 20-year-old incinerator according to members of the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority (GDRRA) board.

Despite the fact that the facility’s contract with the city expires on July 1 there are no plans to use alternative methods of waste disposal at this time.

While the city has been offered less expensive waste disposal options in landfills and it was not clear whether GDRRA could match those prices, trash will still be burned at the towering disposal facility on Detroit’s east side near the I-75 and I-94 highway interchange.

GDRRA is a public board that controls the privately owned Detroit trash incinerator that burns approximately 800,000 tons of municipal waste annually.

The meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, ended without any clear conclusions about the future of the controversial incinerator. Many members of the community surrounding the incinerator and environmentalist groups such as the Sierra Club and Green Peace have fought for years to have the facility shut down because they believe it poses a danger to public health due to its toxic emissions.

The GDRRA board made it apparent, however, that the incinerator will keep burning through July 1, after the Incinerator’s contract with the city expires.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s chief administrator, Charles Beckham, oversaw the GDRRA board meeting and had this to say to people who were visibly disappointed to hear that Detroit’s trash would still be burnt.

“This is a very very complex issue. There will not be an easy answer to this. I don’t want people to get the impression that we’re going to breeze through this.”

Beckham noted that the high profile shareholders that own the solid waste incinerator such as DTE and General Electric will also have to be brought to the table for negotiations. But he said that the mayor wants GDRRA, the city, and concerned residents to reach an agreement that satisfies all parties. “Mayor Bing is committed to try to straighten this out,” he said.

In his campaign for mayor before the May 5 special election Bing said that he wanted to see the incinerator shut down.

But community leaders and environmental activists opposed to operating the incinerator left the meeting discouraged and confused.

“Importantly, will there continue to be a price disparity for incineration between Detroit and the suburbs,” asked Rhonda Anderson, Environmental Justice Coordinator for the Sierra Club after the meeting. “This action by the GDRRA Board indicates that leadership has a serious gap in recognizing change that is timely and beneficial to citizens.”