Establishing a regional waste to value-added facility in the Town of St. Paul

The Town of St. Paul and neighbouring municipalities in northeastern Alberta will investigate the feasibility of a regional integrated solid waste management system (ISWM) that consists of a value-added organic and inorganic waste processing facility to increase their diversion rates from landfill. The collaborative project could offer revenue opportunities in generating greenhouse gas offsets, recovered materials, and district heating. An ISWM goes beyond conventional approaches in waste management by considering all upstream sorting of municipal solid waste, midstream collection and processing operations, and downstream functions such as disposal, leachate treatment, and energy recovery. The Town of St. Paul, along with the municipalities of Bonnyville, Cold Lake, Elk Point, and Counties of Lake La Biche and St. Paul No. 19, approached Alberta Innovates Energy and Environmental Solutions (AI-EES) for technical advice in developing an ISWM concept for their region. Current waste diversion rates are largely unknown in the region (other than the Town of St. Paul’s diversion rate of 30%); therefore, a regional waste characterization study will identify the quantity, ownership, and composition of the waste stream for sorting. Analysis will then include evaluation of transportation costs of waste to the facility, tipping fees within each jurisdiction, and risk management planning. With this baseline, the study will investigate an organics conversion facility that could include waste separation, biological treatment for wet organic waste, thermal treatment for dry organic waste and inorganics, and technologies for leachate treatment and odour management. Another important aspect of this study will be to investigate barriers and opportunities that exist in developing regional sustainable markets for quality digestate. All of these tasks in the workplan will be coordinated by the project management teams of the Conseil de développement économique de L’Alberta (CDÉA) and Eco-West, an organization that assists municipalities with the implementation of sustainable municipal infrastructure projects. The inclusion of municipal feedback in the study, particularly during the governance and technology reviews, will be critical in creating a regional ISWM model that is inclusive and considerate of the needs of all stakeholders. The final report will include the waste characterization study results, the technology and governance model selection, and all of the information necessary to commission the final design, construction, and operation of a waste processing facility. Potential value-added products from Refuse Derived Fuel RDF technologies include organic fertilizers, power and heat sources, and recyclable products. This study will explore cost-effective approaches to assist the region with waste diversion, reduce GHG emissions, reduce overall transportation costs, and enable the region to move towards a zero-waste environment. Support for the initiative comes from the Town of St. Paul’s Municipal Development plan and Integrated Community Sustainability Plan. The study also meets strategies identified in The Alberta Landuse Framework’s Lower Athabasca and Northern Saskatchewan Regional Plans, as well as the Comprehensive Regional Infrastructure Sustainable Plan’s for the Cold Lake Oil Sands Area. (Project description from original funding application)