Is Burying Burnt Syrup a Practical Suggestion?

On the Phone: Dr. Colin Young

Among the suggestions that are being considered is the burial of the large quantity of molasses into a pit. To do so, they would have to identify an ideal location to dig a deep enough crater to dump the burnt syrup. That however, is contingent upon the type of soil the molasses would be deposited into, so as to avoid any seepage.

On the phone: Dr. Colin Young, CEO, Ministry of the Environment

“Yes, that is something that is one of the potential options that they will investigate.  The issue there is the location and the type of material that is within the ground, you know, if it’s clay versus sand.  Obviously we want someplace where there will not be any leaching of molasses into any water, any groundwater, creek or river sources.  So that’s one of the options they will look at because of the volume, it’s a large amount and we have to be worried about any kind of potential contamination of water sources.  So it might be that they would have to look at a pit, but maybe looking at some sort of material to seal the pit if the soil material is not something like clay.  The other option is, I had discussed this with the PR person from BSI, is potentially using it as fertilizer in some of the fields, but I think that we have to look at that because of the volume or whether it’s going to be cost effective for the company to do.  So the team that is going up there today is going to be meeting with the environmental and health and safety persons to find the best possible mechanism to deal with the molasses.”

As we’ve reported, B.S.I. is still in the process of quantifying the amount of molasses lost, as well as its value.