Car Shredder Looks to Increase Shipments to Landfill

Politicians in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, are pressing the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission to cut a special deal with a Quebec recycling company to add more waste to the Crane Mountain landfill at a reduced price.

Liberal MP Paul Zed and Mayor Norm McFarlane have asked the waste commission if it can find a way to help SNF Maritime Metal, which wants to expand its operations and create more jobs.

For four years SNF Maritime Metal has been trying to find a landfill that will accept its excess waste. The company wants to salvage metal from old, junked cars.

Normally, Crane Mountain landfill charges $110 a tonne for waste. But SNF wants a much lower price.

MP Paul Zed says he's been working with Mayor Norm McFarlane and others to see if the two sides can find common ground. "People are really working on a team here, and I have a sense that if it can go, and if it's sustainable and if it's safe, then this will go and if it isn't it won't."

But the commission says it can't give the company everything it wants.

Chairman Bernie Desmond says the company wants to dispose of 25,000 metric tons of waste. That would mean the commission would have to borrow heavily to build new holding cells.

"The borrowed money means we're not only going to pay the money back but interest on that borrowed money, and ultimately it's the taxpayer that's going to pay the tipping fee to have that paid for," Desmond says.

The Department of Environment is also involved. It wants to the company to explain how it will remove hazardous materials from the vehicles before it shreds and dumps them. Canadian Broadcasting