INDEX PCB Digest - 6/21/02 - summer Solstice
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1) Northern Daily News - 6/21/02 - Page 3
TCI applies for permit to operate mobile unit
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1) Northern Daily News - 6/21/02 - Page 3
TCI applies for permit to operate mobile unit
Rick Owen
Northern Daily News
Kirkland Lake:
Trans Cycle Industries has changed its plans for Kirkland Lake.
The company has dropped its bid to install a �thermal desorption device in Kirkland Lake and is instead applying for permits to operate a mobile thermal desorption unit.
Dick Wendt, TCI's COO officer said they will use the unit that was purchased, but will make modifications to it so it can be taken to a contaminated soil sites to process the soil.
While the unit will be portable, Wendt, said they are looking at large sites, where the desorption unit would be there for six months to a year.
After the soil is decontaminated there are PCBs left over, which Wendt said will be shipped directly to Swan Hills for final disposition.
In talking about the company's decision to do on-site soil remediation, Wendt said, "We think this is the best route, instead of all the concerns that people have as far as Kirkland Lake. Really it is more efficient and for environmental reasons, to actually have a non-incineration remediation process where you can actually take it right on the contaminated site a area and clean it up." Once the soil is cleaned it is moved to another site.
TCI is currently going to the Ministry of the Environment to apply for an operating permit for its mobile desorption unit. "We have to get it through the formal process of putting the application in and we have talked to the Ministry of Environment, that we really feel the right direction to go is with a mobile unit. I think that all of the environmental groups would definitely agree with this," said Wendt. "We still have to go through the process with the MOE, on filing the proper applications and so forth and getting their approval, which we are in the process of doing."
In terms of getting the thermal desorption unit permitted and online, Wendt said they are looking at sooner rather than later, but that will depend upon the MOE.
"If it is something the Ministry of Environment can live with and even all the environmental groups, then we are all for it and if no one can live with it then we'll drop it," said Wendt. "We are interested in doing something that is unique, but we are not interested in doing something where we are going to have a lot of counter action to it."
Since TCI has opened its plant in Kirkland Lake it has cleaned 4.5 million kilograms of PCB contaminated material from Canadian sites, and is the only facility in Canada that can decontaminate electrical transformers with over 500 ppm PCB.
TCI describes its facilities as "state of the art" recycling processes cleaning metals for return to commerce as the much-reduced PCB residuals are sent off site to licensed facilities for final disposal."
The company has worked on more than 300 PCB contaminated sites in Canada, including significant sites in Northern Ontario.
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