Financial and Technical Feasibility Study for the Region of Durham's Integrated Waste Management System Utilizing Anaerobic Digestion

The organics processing facility for the Region of Durham currently operates at full capacity, and this constrains increased waste diversion with growing residential development. Expanded organics capacity could extract organics from both single family households and the multi-residential residual stream and significantly increase the region’s diversion rate. In this regard, the Region of Durham will conduct a feasibility study to determine the technical options and financial feasibility of building an anaerobic digestion (AD) facility and pre-sort waste transfer station to maximize the capture and diversion of residential organics. This new facility would align with key goals in the Region's Long Term Waste Management Strategy, most notably the goal to reach a 70% diversion rate. The Region and its consultants will review a minimum of five options that will consider industry best practice, expertise and experience in the field of municipal solid waste pre-sorting/pre-treatment and AD technologies. The investigation will include capital pre-sort, storage, transfer options and other infrastructure considerations that may assist in integrating AD into the Region's existing waste management system. Each option will include environmental and financial implications, components of risk, and potential revenue from marketing end products over a 20 year life cycle. With the completion of the technical assessment and business case, residents, stakeholders and municipal departments will then review the findings through a public report presented to Council. The final report will include a business case and a technical report of the proposed AD and pre-sort transfer station waste management system. The study will also recommend potential community partners for energy utilization opportunities (e.g. biogas generated from organics decomposition), as well as opportunities in which to further consult with the public and stakeholders. Waste diversion is traditionally achieved by implementing new programs to increase resident participation. Unfortunately, regardless of Durham's numerous waste diversion programs and high resident participation (current global diversion of 55%), residents are likely to continue putting recyclables into the residual waste stream. Modern multi-material pre-sort technology may offer significant cost advantages for increasing waste diversion. Moreover, AD may process difficult waste streams (i.e. pet waste, hygiene and incontinence products) and the more contaminated organic waste streams typically found in multi-residential buildings. These pre-sorting technologies are not in wide use at this time, but facilities operating in North America and Europe claim to capture up to 70 percent of materials post collection. (Project description from original funding application)