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Expansion of the Calgary Composting Facility, one of the largest of its kind in Canada, is set to ease pressure brought by growing demand for the city’s green cart program.
Tanner Fellinger, the city’s manager of utilities delivery, called the 60,000-tonne processing capacity expansion a “significant milestone” towards a greener future.
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Fellinger pointed to the success of the green cart program, which is funding 85 per cent of the $89.6-million expansion, approved by council in 2022.
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“We’re set to increase our capacity by 60 per cent, which translates to an impressive 160,000 tonnes of food and yard waste on an annual basis,” said Mayor Jyoti Gondek at Monday’s press event.
“This is a really good example of Calgarians being given access to a way in which they can practice greener and (more) sustainable methods of dealing with their waste,” Gondek said.
Construction began in April, with completion expected in late 2025. Other funding avenues include federal funding through low interest loans and grants from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Natural Resources Canada.
“It’s really difficult to do things like this on our own as a municipality, as our funding sources are so limited, and so to have good partners that were willing to come forward with funds – really did make this happen,” said Gondek.
A feature of the expansion, the ‘anerobic digestion system’ will allow biogas to be captured as renewable natural gas, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also allows for some volumes to be processed more quickly, says organic program manager Craig More.
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“Calgarians have really embraced the green cart program right from when it rolled out,” said More. “Overall we’re seeing an upward trend year over year.”
The facility receives up to 200 truckloads of food and yard waste a day during the busiest times of the year, More said.
The expansion and new anerobic process will not worsen odours from the facility, and the process will be fully enclosed, said More.
“All that air is going to be captured and treated, and then it will be turned into renewable natural gas.”
Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer said the existing facility has been at capacity for quite a while.
“It was just years after it opened (in 2017) that it crested into essentially over its operational capacity,” Spencer said.
More said that several strategies were in place to handle higher than anticipated tonnage.
“When the facility was originally designed it had some ‘contingency capacity’ built in, as councillor Spencer mentioned that was used up essentially right away,” said More.
Other streams of material they are able to “adjust” how much they’re receiving when they’re receiving a lot of Green Cart material according to More.
“We’ve gone to essentially a 24/7 operation to continue processing that – we truly have successfully processed the vast majority of the Green Cart material that is collected,” More said.
The expansion is meant to get the city through the next several years, said Fellinger, noting that it is dependent on the “rapid growth of Calgary”.
“This expansion ensures our city remains at the forefront of sustainable waste management practices,” Fellinger said.
– With files from Postmedia
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