Metro Vancouver's new solid waste plan is now in the hands of the provincial government.

Delta Mayor Lois Jackson, chair of the regional district, was accompanied by waste management committee chair Greg Moore and environment and energy committee chair Joe Trasolini as they presented the proposed plan to Environment Minister Barry Penner on Wednesday.

"We presented over 500 pages of documentation and I requested that he get back to us as soon as he has his staff digest and make recommendations to him, to allow a basket of options for us as regional government," Jackson told the Optimist following the meeting in Victoria.

A few weeks ago the majority of the Metro Vancouver board of directors voted in favour of the plan, which aims to increase the diversion rate of garbage going to the Vancouver Landfill from the current level of 55 per cent to 70 per cent by 2015.

The plan has an array of waste reduction initiatives, such as region-wide composting. The most controversial element which has grabbed most of the headlines has been a waste-to-energy scheme.

The region currently has an incinerator in Burnaby that processes some of the Lower Mainland's garbage, but, if approved, one or more additional waste-to-energy plants would be built, either within or outside the region

The plants would recover energy from waste that cannot yet be recycled. The landfill would take only materials that can't be recycled or shipped to an incinerator.

The regional district says a large volume of studies were presented to support the conclusion that, based on an independent analysis of long-term financial costs, air quality impacts and greenhouse gas issues, some kind of waste-to-energy technology was the "clear winner" and most sustainable option for waste disposal.

Saying the minister was impressed with the amount of information they provided, Jackson noted they needed to provide answers to concerns raised by the Fraser Valley.

"We responded to some of the negative information with juried comments from all over the world. In fact, the majority of the information that had been given to the public was addressed many years ago," she said,

"At least one or two of the incinerators referred to were the 1950 vintage. And, of course, they would never be built today. In terms of the international health organizations, the U.K., for instance, don't even require health certificates around these new facilities because there's just nothing there. But we have anyway, will be requiring all of that testing in our solid waste management plan."

Following the Metro board vote, the Fraser Valley Regional District issued another statement reiterating its opposition to waste-to-energy as a viable option.

Patricia Ross, FVRD board chair, said "Across the spectrum, there has been strong opposition to waste-to-energy incineration of municipal solid waste as an option."

Jackson, though, told the Optimist this week, "A lot of the negativism that we have heard has been refuted."

The City of Vancouver, which operates the landfill at Burns Bog, voted against the solid waste plan.

Jackson noted, " Mr. (Barry) Penner did speak to me about the Vancouver Landfill and what is the future of that. I did remind him that they do have permit until about 2030."

In a recent interview, Metro senior engineer Dennis Ranahan said the Vancouver Landfill currently takes 600,000 tonnes of garbage annually and under the new waste manage plan that amount would drop to around 100,000 by 2020.

If a large portion region's trash is to be shipped out for incineration, one candidate could be the Vancouver Island town of Gold River, which has been lobbying hard to host an incinerator.

Locally, one possible location that made news a few months ago was the Tsawwassen First Nation. Aquilini Renewable Energy, owned by Vancouver Canuck's owner Francesco Aquilini, confirmed they were looking for opportunities in green energy, including waste-to-power, and had preliminary talks with the TFN.

The regional district says once the new plan is approved by the province, a request for proposals from qualified proponents will be issued to arrive at appropriate technologies and the siting of facilities.

A thorough environmental assessment review, as well as an extensive public consultation process, will also have to take place before any new facilities are built, according to the district.