It may not be in Windsor-Essex, but it affected the region's air quality for three decades when it was up and running.
Now, it's on its last legs.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced Tuesday that the city's unpopular incinerator, which was blamed for health problems and air pollution for over three decades, will face demolition within the next few weeks.
The incinerator was closed in 2019 after a public outcry, and the city has hired Homrich to perform the demolition following a competitive bid process. The demolition will generate about $1.3-million US in revenue for the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority (GDRRA) from salvaging metals and other materials.
"The presence of this incinerator has been a real pain point for this community because it was another example of a health hazard being placed in a lower-income community of colour," said Duggan. "We worked hard behind the scenes to get the incinerator shut down, and now residents of this neighbourhood will finally be able to say goodbye to it forever."
Detroit Thermal Energy, which owns the incinerator, agreed to cease operations in 2019 after being lobbied for a year by the Duggan administration.
The City of Detroit's plan to demolish its incinerator and adaptive reuse of adjacent property. Image provided by City of Detroit.
The facility was opened in 1989 during the administration of Mayor Coleman Young, at a cost of half a billion US dollars. Almost immediately, residents in the surrounding area began complaining of foul odours and emissions, causing health issues. According to a release from the City of Detroit, the incinerator exceeded pollution standards by over 750 times during its last five years of operation. The incinerator burned an average of 5,000 tonnes of trash each day.
Once the demolition process begins, it will finish within six months, with the implosion of the smokestack.
---with files from Adelle Loiselle