Proposed waste facility in Burnaby nature reserve won’t go ahead

Burnaby city councillors are walking back their plans to build a waste recycling plant that would have paved over several hectares of cherished a local wildlife reserve.

The decision had Burnaby residents shouting for joy at City Hall Monday.

The plan originally would’ve seen a waste recycling plant build at Fraser Foreshore Park.

“I can promise, as one of your councillors, I will do my best that we make sure we do a lot better in the future,” said Councillor Joe Keithley.

Residents protested for weeks against the proposed waste recycling plant, saying several acres of the wildlife reserve in Fraser Foreshore Park is an irreplaceable home to dozens of animal species.

“The actual site with the 21 acre loss has recorded 90 species of birds. At the park, within which that 21 acres sit, has something like 142 species of birds recorded there,” said George Clulow, former president of BC Field Ornithologists.

Related articles:

• Burnaby residents push back against proposed compost facility in local park

• Burnaby to reconsider planned compost facility in Fraser Foreshore Park

The proposed site was called the Green Recycling Organic Waste Facility, or GROW, and a City of Burnaby staff report says it would have processed around 150,000 tonnes of waste from around the region every year.

Sustainability advocate Eudora Koh says the bottom line is that the group isn’t “against fighting climate change.”

“People in my generation are standing up against it, but it doesn’t mean building this facility on dedicated parkland,” she said.

“We need our parkland. So the fact that they want this facility is not a problem, but this is the wrong location,” added Jasmine Nichols Figueiredo of the Douglas College Faculty Association.

But the City of Burnaby says this was the only site available for such a plant, and Mayor Mike Hurley says the city needs to make big moves if it wants to meet its climate targets.

“I am not very confident that we will be able to find the space in Burnaby, but perhaps we can make arrangements through Metro Vancouver or are the willingness of some other municipalities to go down this road. I’m not sure that will happen, but we need to find solutions,” he said.

For now, Burnaby residents say they will be able to keep enjoying the park as is — waste recycling plant free.

“We feel so pleased that we’ve been listened to, and that the park is saved,” said a woman among the park’s supporters.