Dufferin County and York Region public works officials have begun evaluating responses to the York-drafted request for proposals (RFP) for the 50,000-tonne DEEP compost facility to be created as a partnership of the two municipalities.

The RFP closed in early June. Dufferin Public Works Director Trevor Lewis told the Community Development Committee that, in effect, the evaluation process would begin with training sessions.

Details of the three responses were not immediately available but might be discussed at tonight’s county county council meeting.

In other waste management business, it appears that Ontario is lagging behind the U.S. state of Wisconsin in its attitude toward energy from waste (EFW).

Mr. Lewis told the committee that he had met with both the ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the Ontario Power Authority and been told that the DEEP project does not meet the criteria to qualify for the feed-in-tariff (FIT) program as “waste isn’t classified as renewable.”

However, he said the province is developing “ specific program” under which the local project would qualify. The FIT program would be a requirement for the county to take over waste management from the lower tier municipalities.

Dufferin’s ability to garner 12 cents a kwh for electricity under the FIT program is generally a criterion in the feasibility study for the proposed Alter NRG Westinghouse plasma gasification technology facility.

In the meantime in Wisconsin, the governor has signed a bill classifying plasma gasification of garbage as something that’s considered as consistent with the state’s renewable portfolio standards.

The Wisconsin move toward classifying EFW via gasification places it ahead of all other states of the Union in that regard. Providers of plasma gasification have long maintained, however, that garbage is a renewable resource that can be used to produce green energy.

In Wisconsin, the CEO of Alliance Federated Energy was quoted as describing the legislation “a crucial step forward to the environmental and economic health of our state and enhances Wisconsin’s technology leadership in renewable power.”