Plasma May Zap City's Garbage Crisis

Vancouver may have a fix for its garbage overflow crisis: Burn the trash into a gas that makes electricity. A Canadian company called Plasco Energy Group has proposed a plant that zaps waste into ionized gas, or plasma; about a fifth of it would run the plant and the rest could be sold off. A few plasma plants by other companies have reportedly tanked, but the Vancouver Sun's Harvey Enchin urges the city to try this one.

Enchin admits that Plasco's only demonstration plant, in Ottawa, burns just 40 tons a day—hardly proof that the company can zap 1.5 million tons a year in Vancouver. And he tips a hat to greenies who fear that waste-burning could scuttle recycling and composting. But, he writes, the science stands, and the city is getting a no-risk deal to try a new green technology. (More landfill stories.)