MONTRÉAL, QC – The Canadian Taxpayers Federation warns the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement against imposing biomethanization as the sole technology to deal with residual waste.

“Paying two and a half times the cost for a difference that looks like a rounding error just doesn’t make any sense,” said CTF Quebec Director Renaud Brossard. “Our government must keep the cost-benefit ratio in mind before forking over millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.”

The CTF compared the planned operating costs of the Montréal-Est biomethanization facility to the average cost to eliminate a tonne of residual waste in Montréal. Operating the Montréal-Est plant will cost taxpayers $229.97 per tonne, whereas the city estimates the average cost to eliminate residual waste in current facilities will sit around $91.25 per tonne in 2025.

Biomethanization plants can capture 99.1 per cent of landfill gasses, compared to 97 per cent according to best practices from existing landfill sites. Unlike landfill sites, waste that is treated in biomethanization facilities still needs further treatment for elimination.

“What Montréal is proposing with its biomethanization plant is to add another step to the treatment, at high cost, and without substantially better results,” said Brossard. “Quebecers should be warry of politicians saying they should follow this example.”

The report CTF prepared for the BAPE is available by clicking here: http://www.taxpayer.com/media/2021-05-12%20-%20M%C3%A9moire%20FCC%20BAPE%20r%C3%A9sidus%20ultimes.pdf