Japanese tsunami debris will need sorting and hauling
While coastal First Nations continue to wait for information on how they will deal with floating wreckage from the earthquake and tsunami that rocked northeastern Japan last March 11, the provincial co-chair of the Provincial Tsunami Debris Coordinating Committee has cautioned not to expect dramatic action any time soon.
Jim Standen, assistant deputy minister for the B.C. Ministry of the Environment, was appointed by the province to head the debris field working group on Jan. 9. Standen told Ha-Shilth-Sa it would be some time before the committee comes up with a plan of action.
“We’re starting to get the [provincial] government agencies coordinated. We’re putting out an expression of interest,” Standen said, adding that the federal government would have equal representation when it decided to sign on.
“We’re still waiting for the federal government to appoint a co-chair. It’s their call who they’re going to put up,” he said.
Standen said it would be premature to speculate on how local governments, First Nations or private stakeholders, such as recyclers or waste-haulers, might participate in creating a debris strategy.
“Our first priority is to assemble a committee from government agencies. All we’re doing so far is organizing the provincial side,” Standen said, adding that each of the agencies has its own specific mandate. “Our job is to see that everyone is working on solutions.”
The first task will be to acquire a firm picture of how much floating debris is out there and when, or if, it will land on our shores. Standen said he has heard, like the rest of the public, that the debris field contains millions of tonnes of wood and plastics, and is spread out over thousands of square kilometres.
“There is a lot of talk and a lot of speculation. We have to ask, ‘who are the holders of the best information?’ We can’t plan in a vacuum.”
Natalie Jack, emergency preparedness coordinator for Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k:tles7et’h’ First Nation, said members are already keeping an eye out for the first pieces of floating wreckage.
“We know it is just a matter of time. We walked the beaches yesterday [Sunday] and we only found one bottle, but it had Oriental writing on it,” Jack said. “Now we wonder what we do when the big mass comes on shore.”
Jack said members of the Kyuquot Sound community watched on CNN last March as the Japanese tragedy began to unfold, knowing, in the back of their minds, that there would be long-term repercussions.
“We do live in Paradise here. We are the furthest north Nuu-chah-nulth nation, and the only way out of Kyuquot is by boat or airplane,” Jack said. “When the Exxon Valdez broke up in 1989, we monitored that very closely. When the big globs of oil–they call them patties–arrived on our beaches, we had to use shovels and had to pick some of them up by hand.”
Jack said the oil patties had to be put into special purpose bags and were lifted out by helicopter.
“Back then, the people were compensated for their time, and for all the rain gear and equipment that was destroyed. There was no way to save it,” Jack said.
In the case of the Exxon Valdez, however, matters of jurisdiction and compensation were fairly clear-cut.
“This time, there will be so many levels of government involved, it will be hard to figure out who is really in charge,” Jack said, adding that the source of the debris complicates the picture even further.
“I don’t think anyone has any idea how the Japanese will be involved,” she said.
Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k:tles7et’h’ Chief Councillor Therese Smith said her community of about 170 members has a waste management program, but no facilities for handling mass quantities of seaborne junk.
“We have a recycling service that picks up at our homes, but non-recyclables have to be stored. Once or twice a year, we barge it out,” Smith said.
Will Burrows, executive director of the West Coast Waste Management Association, said it is likely that the materials would have to be sorted as they arrive, either at sea or on land.
“First you have to look at it as a resource, rather than as waste. But some materials are not marketable,” Burrows said.
Ideally, some of the plastics could be recycled and many of the items were purchased with prepaid recycling fees in Japan, but in reality, what washes up on the B.C. Coast will be a huge mass of undifferentiated plastics, including buoyant appliances and electronics, wood waste, fiberglass boats and anything else that maintains flotation after two years at sea. Ultimately, Burrows said, most of the material could be destined for disposal in clean burning waste-to-energy incinerators.
“The incinerators we have now are much more efficient than in the past. They operate under higher temperatures and the gases are collected and the emissions captured. Most of them drive steam turbines to generate electricity.”
These high-tech incinerators are widely used in Europe. They must first demonstrate that they can combust the materials and meet all standards set by environmental authorities.
“Some members of our association operate incinerators; some don’t,” Burrows said, adding that, while you can burn some plastics, they must be well sorted.
“Incinerators need a consistent feed, both the materials and the moisture content,” he said. “You couldn’t put electronics in there.”
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides detailed satellite surveillance of the world’s oceans both for national security agencies and for the scientific community. The agency has now created a webpage (marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/japanfaqs.html#3) to track the debris field and provide information to the public.
The Alaska Department of Health has reported that flotsam believed to originate with the March 11 tsunami has already been found on shore. They do not consider radioactive contamination of Alaska shellfish to be a hazard at this point, because most of the debris washed out to sea before the catastrophic reactor failures took place at the Fukushima nuclear complex during the earthquake and tsunami.
