Canada: Local mayor welcomes ‘state of the art’ organic waste to biomethane facility
The mayor of the Canadian city of Surrey, British Columbia, has welcomed a new organic waste to biomethane facility in the Port Kells industrial area.
Waste-to-product specialist Renewi has officially opened what it claims to be the first closed-loop organics waste management system in Canada. The facility converts organic waste into renewable biomethane gas.
The new Organics Biofuels Processing facility is apparently the largest of its kind in North America. Located within the Metro Vancouver area, it has capacity to process 100% of Surrey’s organic waste over a 25-year contract term, along with commercial organic waste.
As Bioenergy Insight reported, the facility accepted its first waste to be converted into biomethane late last year.
The facility has the capacity to process up to 115,000 tonnes of organic waste annually. Kitchen, garden and commercial waste from across the region will be converted into biomethane to fuel Surrey’s fleet of natural gas powered waste collection trucks. In addition, the facility will produce a compost product suitable for landscaping and agricultural applications.
Local support
“Surrey has established a new sustainability benchmark in Canada with a state of the art facility that converts organic waste into renewable energy,” said Linda Hepner, the city’s mayor.
“The facility will be instrumental in reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 49,000 tonnes per year, which is the equivalent of taking over 10,000 cars off the road annually. This reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will also completely eliminate the City of Surrey’s corporate carbon footprint of 17,000 tonnes per year.”
Underpinned by a public-private partnership contract with the Government of Canada, the facility is also the first waste sector infrastructure project in North America to be awarded the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure Envision Platinum award.
The Envision rating system rates sustainable infrastructure across the range of environmental, social and economic impacts.
“The facility shows how we are using innovation to bring our ‘waste no more’ vision to life and play a connecting role in the circular economy. We now look forward to the first gas production at the facility in the early summer, with Full Service Commencement expected soon after,” said Mike Leopold, general manager of Renewi’s Canadian business.
