Progressive Waste Solutions plans large scale landfill gas conversion plant in Canada

Canadian waste management company Progressive Waste Solutions (PWS) is planning to construct a biogas plant at the Ridge Landfill in Ontario.

The planned facility will convert landfill gas into pipeline-quality natural gas at approximately the same scale as PWS’ standing biogas plant at the Lachenaie Landfill in Montreal.

The Lachenaie plant is the largest biogas plant of its kind in Canada, processing 10,000cbft of incoming landfill gas per minute, generating enough biogas to fuel 1,500 for 20 years, the company says.

The 800-acre Ridge Landfill site, which currently has approval for 350 acres to be used for waste disposal, is expected to reach its current approved capacity by 2022.

Peter Shillington, former mayor of Blenheim said the community was working on a deal at the time with former landfill owner BFI to install a generator to produce electricity from the landfill gas.

“The town was going to be a 50/50 partner with BFI,” he told Chatham Daily News.

According to Shillington, the deal was in the works around 1993-94, but it never took off due to municipal amalgamation.

“Nobody's talked about it again, until now,” said Shillington, who is supports the landfill expansion.

Depending on permits and other issues, PWS hopes to begin construction at the plant site “fairly soon”.