Calgary Composting Facility Expansion
Type of initiative
FCM Green Municipal Fund - Capital Project
Sector
Waste
Project value$48,027,400
Project Type
Capital Project
Sub Sector
Composting
Grant amount$1,956,200
Program type
GMF
Municipality
City of Calgary, AB
Loan amount$13,041,500
Status
In Progress
Population
1,306,784
Project timeline
2022 -
Project number
CPC-22-0018
Description
In 2017, The City of Calgary launched a city-wide Green Cart Program to collect source separated food and yard waste from Single-Family households to support our waste-diversion target of 70% by 2025. The Calgary Composting Facility was built through a Public-Private Partnership to process the material collected.
The Facility is the largest of its kind in Canada and is designed to process 100,000 tonnes per year of food and yard waste and 45,500 tonnes per year of dewatered biosolids. The facility is owned by The City of Calgary and operated by AIM Environmental Group.
Due to the popularity of the Green Cart Program and the enthusiastic response from Calgarians, The City of Calgary is collecting food and yard waste that exceeds the design capacity. The objective of this project is to add an additional 60,000 tonnes per year of source separated organics processing capacity at The Calgary Composting Facility. This project will result in The Calgary Composting Facility being able to process up to 160,000 tonnes per year of food and yard waste. This additional capacity will be achieved by incorporating a high-solids plug flow anaerobic digestion system to pre-process incoming organic feedstock. The Facility will capture the biogas generated from the anaerobic digestion process and will upgrade the gas into renewable natural gas, which will be sold to generate revenue to offset operational costs and to minimize the increase to the Green Cart Program fee that will be required to fund the project. It is expected that a minimum of 140,000 GJ / yr of renewable natural gas will be generated.
This new system, like the current facility, will be owned by The City of Calgary and operated by the same private sector partner for the remainder of the contract term (2027).
Additional processing capacity means more material will be diverted away from landfills where it would generate leachate and landfill gas. Diverting these organics will extend the life of our landfills and reduce their impact on climate change by removing the material that contributes most to the emissions from the landfill. Even with landfill gas capture systems at our landfills, it is estimated that diverting 72,000 tonnes per year of organics from landfills will result in reducing emissions by 64,000 tonne CO2e / yr. Additionally, the displacement of fossil natural gas with renewable natural gas will reduce emissions by 8,000 tonnes CO2e / yr.
Composting the digestate or digestate mixed with food and yard waste is also expected to produce a more mature finished compost which will reduce potential odour issues to the Communities surrounding the Calgary Composting Facility.
The Facility is the largest of its kind in Canada and is designed to process 100,000 tonnes per year of food and yard waste and 45,500 tonnes per year of dewatered biosolids. The facility is owned by The City of Calgary and operated by AIM Environmental Group.
Due to the popularity of the Green Cart Program and the enthusiastic response from Calgarians, The City of Calgary is collecting food and yard waste that exceeds the design capacity. The objective of this project is to add an additional 60,000 tonnes per year of source separated organics processing capacity at The Calgary Composting Facility. This project will result in The Calgary Composting Facility being able to process up to 160,000 tonnes per year of food and yard waste. This additional capacity will be achieved by incorporating a high-solids plug flow anaerobic digestion system to pre-process incoming organic feedstock. The Facility will capture the biogas generated from the anaerobic digestion process and will upgrade the gas into renewable natural gas, which will be sold to generate revenue to offset operational costs and to minimize the increase to the Green Cart Program fee that will be required to fund the project. It is expected that a minimum of 140,000 GJ / yr of renewable natural gas will be generated.
This new system, like the current facility, will be owned by The City of Calgary and operated by the same private sector partner for the remainder of the contract term (2027).
Additional processing capacity means more material will be diverted away from landfills where it would generate leachate and landfill gas. Diverting these organics will extend the life of our landfills and reduce their impact on climate change by removing the material that contributes most to the emissions from the landfill. Even with landfill gas capture systems at our landfills, it is estimated that diverting 72,000 tonnes per year of organics from landfills will result in reducing emissions by 64,000 tonne CO2e / yr. Additionally, the displacement of fossil natural gas with renewable natural gas will reduce emissions by 8,000 tonnes CO2e / yr.
Composting the digestate or digestate mixed with food and yard waste is also expected to produce a more mature finished compost which will reduce potential odour issues to the Communities surrounding the Calgary Composting Facility.
Applicant
City of Calgary, AB