After four public consultations, months of debate and plenty of negative reaction, Plasco Energy has withdrawn its proposal to build a waste-to-energy facility on a former landfill site in Port Moody.

Six days before council was set to make a decision on the issue, Plasco president Rod Bryden said it was clear throughout the numerous hearings that the company did not have the confidence of the public.

Many PoMo residents spoke in opposition to the facility throughout the consultation process, fearing the plant would pump harmful emissions into the air.

There were also concerns that using garbage to create fuel would minimize the focus on waste reduction and recycling.

"It didn't seem to be a good use of our financial and human resources to go through a protracted debate," Bryden told The Tri-City News. "We don't expect to have a plant in every city in the world."

Port Moody council will still vote on the Waste Conversion Task Force's report at Tuesday's meeting.

But in its recommendations, the task force said the Barnet Highway site was inappropriate for a Plasco plant. Task force members also wrote that the company must refine its technology and ensure acceptable emission targets before a facility would be considered in the region.

Elaine Golds, chair of the Burke Mountain Naturalists and an outspoken opponent of Plasco, was elated.

But Metro Vancouver still has plans to build six waste-to-energy facilities in the Lower Mainland and Golds said she would continue to work to oppose the plants.

"I think this is a very important issue," she said. "It needs to be brought up in the municipal elections... This is a good first step but we need to complete the process."

gmckenna@tricitynews.com