CityConnect Getting to know GRO

Burnaby’s Green Recycling and Organics (GRO) Facility

In 2019, at the urging of residents, the City of Burnaby declared a Climate Emergency Carbon emissions will have to be reduced dramatically and quickly—in order to reach the ambitious targets set by the City We know that bold actions must be taken by all of us if we are to become carbon neutral One way to do this is by capturing renewable energy

The GRO project will be one of the major steps Burnaby is taking to achieve our carbon reduction goals.

What is GRO?

The City is proposing a Green Recycling and Organics (GRO) facility in south Burnaby to strengthen our commitment to climate action and resilience GRO is about moving to a circular economy, where nothing goes to waste Our household organics would be processed to be used as renewable fuel—displacing fossil fuels— and rich compost.

Benefits include:

» reducing the equivalent of 14,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually (equal to taking 3,000 cars off the road)

» generating enough renewable natural gas (RNG) to heat up to 5,000 homes

» creating thousands of tons of rich organic compost for local gardens and farms

Where would GRO be located?

The proposed site is at 4800 Riverbend Drive next to Metro Vancouver’s Waste to Energy (WTE) facility Together, the City envisions these facilities forming a “Green Energy Hub” with a portion of the GRO building used for a District Energy Facility to take heat from the WTE facility to provide low-carbon heat to Burnaby homes.

Will there be odour?

No There won’t be any odour

All processing will happen inside a fully enclosed facility The facility will be under negative air pressure, meaning any odour generated would be captured and filtered before leaving the building

To advance this project, 8.43 hectares of parkland will need to be used

This site is located at the eastern edge of Burnaby Fraser Foreshore Park in an area which has been left to naturalize since farming activities ended in the 1960s. Removing parkland is something the City takes seriously, and we are committed to ensuring an equal or greater amount of land will be made available for park use to offset the land used for GRO

Did you know?

Burnaby has more than 5,500 acres of parkland more than 25% of the city’s land area Since 1987, the city’s total parkland has grown by more than 30% Thanks to City actions and policies, this positive trend is continuing

Will there be habitat enhancement from this project?

As part of the project the City will provide environmental enhancement on an unprecedented scale We will create 3 times the amount of habitat that existed there before, both on and offsite We will create high-value habitat that is in short supply in the Fraser River basin.

The City would create:

» a new salmon-supporting tidal marsh

» new salmon-supporting tidal creeks

» enhanced forest habitat

Existing low-quality on-site fish habitat (drainage ditches) would be replaced with high-quality wetlands and habitat for juvenile salmon that continues to support wildlife species including birds, bats and amphibians.