It's one thing to see our garbage go up in smoke, but it's quite another to do the same with our tax dollars.

Provincial government approval last week of Metro Vancouver's solid waste plan has cleared the way for regional officials to pursue the construction of one or more garbage incinerators (sorry, I mean waste-to-energy facilities). It's all very preliminary at this stage, so what they'll look like and where they'll be located still has to be determined, but you can bet this process will lead to some pretty heated discussions.

Here in Delta, however, the debate extends beyond these garbage burners to include the Vancouver Landfill, which, although it's not the sexiest amenity to house, is actually quite a cash cow for the host municipality. We don't pay to dump and we receive a cut (royalties) when others do at the landfill in East Ladner, so if this practice were to be significantly curtailed, and garbage was sent to these waste-to-energy facilities instead, it would be a financial blow for local taxpayers.

According to a report from civic finance director Karl Preuss, losing the royalty revenue could increase property taxes by 2.5 per cent or more and the loss of free disposal of our garbage would result in another $100 added to the already rapidly-climbing utility bills.

With that collective benefit pegged at something in the neighbourhood of $5 million annually, I'm not so sure we should be turning our backs on the landfill in favour of incineration without some serious discussions.

I recognize many Lower Mainland jurisdictions don't have the luxury of such an option, which is perhaps why Metro officials fell in love with incineration after plans to expand interior landfills failed, but in Delta we do have a choice.

I suppose burning is a bit better than burying our garbage, although I suspect you'd get an argument from the folks out in the eastern Fraser Valley about that.

Neither strikes me as an environmentally friendly practice, which has me questioning whether we should jump to the other side when the financial ramifications are so substantial.

Maybe I'm too fixated on a bottom line that clearly favours landfilling, but the rest of the region was quite prepared to stay with that practice until its expansion plans fell through. Now we're told waste-to-energy is the way to go.

It might well make the most sense for those areas without an alternative. In Delta, however, we have the luxury of a choice.