Metro Vancouver municipal politicians have voted to investigate building an incinerator or some other waste-to-energy plant to dispose of the region's garbage.

At a meeting Friday, board members decided to consider incineration, mass burning, anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis (chemical decomposition brought about by heat) and gasification.

Metro Vancouver politicians also said the new facility could be located inside or outside the region.

"This has been a long, complex, and sometimes fractious process, but I am confident that we have made the right decision,” Lois Jackson, the Metro Vancouver board chair, said in a news release.

“In our extensive consultations on the new plan, we heard virtually unanimous support for our waste reduction goals and the actions needed to achieve them."

A waste-to-energy solution for the garbage from the 24 communities in Metro Vancouver is the best choice from an "economic, environmental and social perspective," Jackson said.

The plan calls for the continued use of the Vancouver landfill in Delta, as well as the existing waste-to-energy plant in Burnaby.

The board plans to put out a request for proposals to determine which technologies will be used, and where a new facility would be located.

However, the board can't begin looking at proposals until it gets approval from provincial Environment Minister Barry Penner, who is also an MLA in the Fraser Valley, where waste-to-energy plants are a contentious issue.

Penner has said in the past that he doesn't want a second waste incinerator in Metro Vancouver.

The regional district's waste management committee recently recommended the board approve constructing a $470-million incinerator that would burn the region's garbage and produce electrical power.

Many municipal politicians say they support the incinerator plan because it would allow the region to reduce the amount of garbage being trucked to Cache Creek and other landfills.

Vancouver and some Fraser Valley municipalities, however, say they are opposed to the waste-to-energy plant because it will increase air pollution in the region.

District staff say a new incinerator will not increase the region's greenhouse gas emissions.