Solid Waste & Recycling April/May 2009 by Annex Business Media

Solid Waste & Recycling

Re M cyc — ar lin g pa ke ge ts 20

Canada’s magazine on collection, hauling, processing and disposal April/May 2009 $10.00

Landfill Mining The City of Barrie’s restoration project — page 8

CPMP No. 40069240

An EcoLog Group Publication

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Solid Waste & Recycling

CONTENTS April/May 2009 Volume 14, Number 2

Canada’s magazine on collection, hauling, processing & disposal

Landfill Reclamation

When the City of Barrie’s landfill needed remediation, the opportunity arose to protect groundwater and also extend the life of the landfill. Key managers report on this innovative project. by Sandy Coulter & Paul Dewaele

Cover art by Charles Jaffé

COVER STORY

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: PELLETIZATION

Editorial

Up Front & Masthead

Overview of turning waste into fuel pellets. by Salman Zafar

WTE SIDEBAR: PLANT TOUR

Dongara’s new pelletication plant in Vaughan. by Guy Crittenden

RECYCLING: MARKETS SURVIVAL

Report from the MWIN recycling markets seminar. by Guy Crittenden

MRF OPERATION: CRISIS COMMUNICATION Dealing with the media after an incident. by Paul Lima

Composting Matters

Waste Business

Equipment

Regulation Roundup

Landfill Technology

Classified

News

Ad Index

Blog

NEXT EDITION SUPPLEMENTS: Bags, Bins, Carts & Containers Food industry waste. Recycling beverage containers. Source-separated organics. Gasification. Geomembrane liners. Compactor technology. Clean technology. Space closing: May 23; Artwork required: May 29. Advertisers, contact Publisher Brad O’Brien at 1-888-702-1111 ext. 2.

Pelletization, pg. 14

Markets survival, pg. 20

Composting matters, pg. 28

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by Guy Crittenden

EDITORIAL

“The amount of material arriving at the MRF goes up, but so do residue rates.”

Stepping in the Same Stream Twice

new study may go a long way toward settling the matter of Lantz recognizes that large plants enjoy economies of scale. Faciliwhether or not the benefits of single-stream recycling outweigh ties that process more than 50,000 tonnes per year typically operate its disadvantages compared to dual-stream recycling. Dan Lantz more than one shift per day, which monetizes capital costs over two is Director of Environmental and Engineering Services at Metro Waste shifts and more tonnages, thereby lowering the capital cost per tonne. Paper Recovery in Toronto, Ontario. His evaluation of single- versus Two shifts would reduce capital costs by $5 and $8.50 per tonne. dual-stream systems published in a recent edition of Resource RecycOn the surface, moving to single-stream collection appears to save ling couldn’t be timelier; program operators are reeling from depressed money (20 to 30 per cent), but Lantz compared actual costs that show recycled commodity prices and end-customers are clamoring for better single-stream programs saving less than $3 per tonne compared to the quality. (See page 20 for a report on recycling markets.) average for dual-stream programs that pick up the two streams in the As most readers know, fibres and containers are commingled in sinsame pass. He concludes that dual stream collection costs could be gle-stream systems, and collected separately lowered to match those of single-stream. in dual-stream. Single-stream proponents Tallying up the various factors, Lantz say the simplicity for residents of tossing suggests that dual-stream programs can ofeverything in one container encourages them fer savings between approximately $8.50 to divert more material. The higher cost of and $22 per tonne (six to 15.5 percent) comseparating the fibres and containers at the pared to single-stream programs. This is materials recovery facility (MRF) is offset in astounding. part by lower labor costs (if collection trucks But what about diversion rates? with automated equipment are used). DeThe study indicates that shifting to sinfenders of dual-stream programs maintain gle-stream may not be the main reason rethat single-stream squanders the free labor cycling rates appear to increase compared of residents separating the materials at to other factors such as user-pay systems, source. Subsequently, more recyclables may bag limits and program promotion. The be collected, but residue rates increase. amount of material arriving at the MRF may Sorting through the claims on either side go up with single-stream (along with higher has been difficult for waste managers. This residue rates) but there’s little evidence of is why Lantz’s rigorous examination is so single-stream recycling alone increasing Lantz found dual-stream recycling cost $3.50 less per tonne valuable. Lantz concludes that the benefits of total diversion. than singe stream, or about a dollar less per household. single-stream recycling are overstated. Worse, contamination reduces the value Lantz examined the 2007 recovery rates of some representative of materials sold (through brokers) to end markets. An estimate from large-scale recycling programs in Ontario, including three single-stream one Ontario mill suggests that increased contaminants raises its processand four dual-stream systems. The single-stream programs tended to be ing costs by $20 per tonne; some mills are simply not accepting fibre concentrated in major cities, while the dual-stream ones were a mix of from single-stream systems these days. The majority of the tonnes marurban, suburban and rural. Interestingly, he found that dual-stream reketed from Ontario MRFs is old newsprint; if they all converted to sincycling cost $3.50 less per tonne or about a dollar less per household. gle-stream and were downgraded, the cost would exceed $8.9 million Lantz notes that various factors need to be taken into account, inannually (with more material sent to landfill). In a typical single-stream cluding that dual-stream systems tend to operate with older infrastrucMRF, 15 to 20 percent of the fibres end up on the containers line, and ture that will eventually have to be replaced, thus raising costs. But about the same percentage of containers end up on the fibres line, resultlower labor costs will offset this, especially as things like optical-sorting ing in higher costs for additional screening or manual sorting than simtechnologies are added. ply doing two sorts at the curb. Lantz estimates new equipment will trigger a net increase of $10 to This is important information for anyone considering switching from $17 per tonne for dual-stream facilities, but prorating this across plants dual- to single-stream recycling, especially in the current down-market that don’t need new equipment lowers the amount to just $4 to $6 per for recycled commodities. Be sure to study the matter carefully before tonne. Switching to a single-stream program raises labor costs; residue you make any big changes. in the inbound stream and the efficiency of separation screens necessiNOTE: Readers can download a copy of the Resource Recycling article tates the addition of five to eight sorters at a cost of $3 to $7 per tonne. from the Posted Documents section of www.solidwastemag.com Some single-stream programs receive a premium for their fibre compared to dual-stream (examples include $6 to $7 per tonne) which can Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine. Contact Guy at mask true net costs. gcrittenden@solidwastemag.com

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Solid Waste & Recycling

Canada’s magazine on collection, hauling, processing & disposal

Guy Crittenden Editor gcrittenden@solidwastemag.com Brad O’Brien Publisher bobrien@solidwastemag.com Jamie Ross Account Manager jross@solidwastemag.com Sheila Wilson Art Director Kim Collins Market Production Selina Rahaman Circulation Manager Carol Bell-Lenoury Mgr EcoLog Group Bruce Creighton President Business Information Group Contributing Editors Michael Cant, Rosalind Cooper, Maria Kelleher, Clarissa Morawski, Usman Valiante, Paul van der Werf

FROM OUR WEBSITE Dear Editor, Re: News item “Interface to cut Canadian plant” Cut expenses? How? By keeping two empty buildings running so that manage ment has an office close to their homes? By giving bonuses to people that have done nothing but travel to the now defunct Canadian plant? By having people being top management that has a history of being “asked to leave” from their prior companies? By having management over divisions and departments that have no experience in those areas? By having their employees gone for lunches and breakfasts for hours? And believe it or not, I do not, never did and probably won’t ever work for the company.

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MRF SPOTLIGHT

Award-winning magazine Solid Waste & Recycling magazine is published six times a year by EcoLog Information Resources Group, a divi sion of BIG Magazines L.P., a leading Canadian busi ness-to-business information services company that also publishes HazMat Management magazine and other infor mation products. The magazine is printed in Canada. Solid Waste & Recycling provides strategic informa tion and perspectives on all aspects of Canadian solid waste collection, hauling, processing and disposal to waste managers, haulers, recycling coordinators, landfill and compost facility operators and other waste industry professionals. Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40069240 Information contained in this publication has been com piled from sources believed to be reliable, thus Solid Waste & Recycling cannot be responsible for the absolute correctness or sufficiency of articles or editorial contained herein. Articles in this magazine are intended to convey information rather than give legal or other professional ad vice. Reprint and list rental services are arranged through the Publisher at (416) 510-6798. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department, Solid Waste & Recycling 12 Concorde Pl, Ste 800, Toronto, ON M3C 4J2 Call: (416) 442-5600 Fax: (416) 510-5148 E-mail: srahaman@bizinfogroup.ca From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Phone: 1-800-268-7742 Fax: 416-510-5148 E-Mail: jhunter@businessinformationgroup.ca Mail to: Privacy Officer Business Information Group 12 Concorde Pl, Ste 800 Toronto, ON Canada M3C 4J2 Solid Waste & Recycling, USPS 018-886 is published bimonthly by Business Information Group. US office of publication: 2424 Niagara Falls Blvd, Niagara Falls, NY 14304-0357. Periodicals Postage Paid at Niagara Falls, NY. US postmaster: Send address changes to Solid Waste & Recycling, PO Box 1118, Niagara Falls, NY 14304. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program towards our mailing costs. © 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior consent. ISSN-1483-7714 PAP Registration No. 10991

NatureWorks claims no recycling barrier

ollowing an analysis of current technology, NatureWorks LLC concludes that automated systems being used today in the recycling industry are capable of sorting natural plastic bottles from other plastic bottles with an accuracy approaching 100 per cent. This finding is significant because it demonstrates that there is no technological barrier to recycling bottles made from plants instead of oil, the company says. “To become more sustainable, the packaging industry must lower the overall waste, energy consumed, and greenhouse gas emitted from the use of plastics, metals, and fibers,” said Steve Davies, NatureWorks Director of Communications and Public Affairs. “Demonstrating that natural plastic bottles can be brought seamlessly into the recycling steam through the use of automated sorting equipment available today is a major finding and another step towards greater sustainability.” During the past two years, NatureWorks has surveyed equipment manufacturers that have systems with the potential to sort biopolymers from such other plastics as PET, HDPE, PVC, and PS. These sorting systems are usually based on one or more of the following technologies: infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, colour identification, and laser. NatureWorks has identified a dozen companies offering systems than can potentially sort bioresins and has worked closely with three to ascertain actual sorting accuracies. Titech (www.titech.com) demonstrated the ability of its near-infrared sorting systems to eject concentrated amounts of NatureWorks Ingeo™ natural plastic in a PET sorting operation. Sorting efficiency in a single pass was found to be a minimum of 97.5 per cent accurate. This result is consistent with sorting efficiencies for other materials the equipment ejects as contaminants or passes through as desired streams.

Unisensor (http://unisensor.iuveno-net. de/) showed its laser technology was fully capable of sorting Ingeo™ flakes from desired PET flakes at efficiencies of 96 to 99 per cent. This is consistent with other plastics considered contaminants in the PET flake stream. MSS (www.magsep.com) tested Ingeo™ natural plastic in its Aladdin near-infrared system. The test confirmed that Ingeo™ emits a unique polymeric signature. The test demonstrated that Ingeo™ comes up as “other plastics” in a system specifically designed to identify PET, PE, and other plastics. The unique signature of Ingeo™ means that the equipment is programmable to identify Ingeo™ and sort with high accuracy. WRAP, the internationally recognized notfor-profit company that helps individuals, businesses, and local authorities to reduce waste, conducted a comprehensive assessment of its own. Published in June 2008, Domestic Mixed Plastics Packaging Waste Options, WRAP concluded that, “NIR (near-infrared) systems can effectively remove PLA bioplastic and carton board from a mixed packaging stream.” Ingeo™ is highly engineered bioresin made from polylactic acid (PLA). “Accurate sorting is at the heart of making recycling an economically viable business because the recycling operation must be able to separate materials into pure streams — aluminum separated from steel or PET and HDPE plastics from other polymers,” Davies said. “Based on our own work and the analysis of WRAP, we know now that automated systems on the market today can sort natural plastics within industry accepted norms.” A comprehensive overview of NatureWorks analysis of Ingeo™ bottles and automated sorting equipment can be downloaded from the company’s website under Our Values & Views at www.natureworksllc.com

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UPFRONT EPR SPOTLIGHT — Canada-wide EPR action plan

waste management approach that is gaining currency in Canada is the concept of the producers of products being responsible for their end-of-life management. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of its life cycle. Through a Canada-wide Action Plan (CAP) for EPR, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) is seeking to provide guidance on the development and implementation of EPR programs, to strengthen the use of EPR as an environmental riskmanagement tool and to contribute to the harmonization and consistency of programs across the country. A CCME CAP for EPR would seek the adoption by producers of full life-cycle cost accounting for their products. This would see the costs of the end-of-life management of products treated similarly to other factors of production and incorporated into wholesale and retail product prices. Successful EPR shifts the expenses associated with product end-of-life management from taxpayers to producers and consumers and reduces the amount of waste generated and going to disposal. In addition the Action Plan seeks to reduce the toxicity and environmental risks from products and product waste and improve the overall life-cycle performance of products, including reducing associated greenhouse gas emissions. Canadian jurisdictions would agree to consider developing EPR framework legislation and/or to allow for action on the identified priority products and materials. The plan seeks to have the following products and materials incorporated into operational programs within a set time frame (e.g., six years) of the adoption of the CAP (Phase 1): • Packaging • Printed materials • Compact fluorescents and other lamps containing mercury • Electronics and electrical products • Household hazardous and special wastes • Automotive products The following products and materials could be incorporated into operational programs within a set time frame (e.g., eight years) of the adoption of the CAP (Phase 2): • Construction and Demolition materials • Furniture • Textiles and carpet • Appliances, including ozone-depleting substances (ODS) Key Performance Indicators: A number of key performance indicators have been identified to produce a national annual

status report on the performance of the priority EPR programs. These include: kilograms per capita captured or recovered; dollars per kilogram captured or recovered; per cent of waste captured, per cent of waste recovered; and avoided greenhouse gas emissions. Model EPR Program: In order to facilitate the creation of consistent and harmonious EPR regulations and programs, the discussion paper outlines a number of common elements that set out recommendations for all EPR programs to ensure common interpretation and application. These elements include consideration of the responsibilities of designated producers and producer responsibility organizations, relationship to stewardship plans, the establishment of targets and reporting mechanisms, the creation of fees and design for environment. The EPR program elements are designed so that through a successful EPR program, and the regulations which mandate it, cost and management signals are given to producers to improve the life-cycle performance of their products knowing that at some point in the future they will be responsible for the collection, recycling and the environmentally sound management of products that would otherwise be discarded. Supportive Policies and Regulations: In a complex and competitive national and global business market signals to producers from a relatively small market like Canada may not be strong enough alone to influence new environmentally conscious product design and supply chain management. The environmental objectives of EPR may therefore need to be supported and reinforced by other measures, such as: eco-labelling; restrictions on toxic substances; recycled content standards and regulations; green procurement policies; environmental performance/voluntary agreements and a variety of other potential standards, bans, guidelines and educational tools. A National Harmonized Approach: The purpose of a CAP for EPR would be to extend the principle of producer responsibility across the country in a consistent and harmonized way and maximized across the national marketplace. By shifting the responsibility for the end-of-life management of products to the manufacturer and/or importer of that product, effects will be felt throughout the product life cycle. This provides incentives to producers and importers to design their products with less environmental risk, reduced use of toxic and hazardous substances, enhanced ease of product disassembly and other factors reducing their products’ overall environmental footprint. For more information, visit www.ccme.ca

Send your letters and emails to the editor at gcrittenden@solidwastemag.com April/May 2009 www.solidwastemag.com 7

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COVER STORY

by Sandy Coulter and Paul Dewaele “As a result of the reclamation (mining) processes, a positive side-benefit will be to increase site life by up to seven years.”

The City of Barrie’s unique project recycles the landfill and protects water quality

Landfill Mining

teps taken by the City of Barrie, Ontario to protect water resources from landfill leachate have the side-benefit of providing the city with time to further improve waste diversion and control long-term waste management costs. This will be achieved in part by redesigning the landfill and improving both its ability to contain landfill leachate and gas, while at the same time increasing waste density. This project points to some of the trends in landfill management today, which use available technology and methods to solve current and future waste management issues.

Background

Barrie’s municipal solid waste landfill began operations in the 1960s in what is marked on the diagram as Cell 1. As the landfill developed, there

was an increased need to minimize the discharge of leachate, which typically contains salts, metals and volatile organic compounds. The city installed environmental controls to deal with this, including a groundwater collection gallery (consisting of a drain running along the east side of the landfill) and an array of three groundwater extraction (purge wells) along the south side. A number of years ago, the city recognized that the long-term cost and operational implications of the control systems would be increasingly expensive and difficult to maintain. There were also concerns that, despite the environmental controls, as the landfill developed, leachate might migrate off the property resulting in non-compliance with environmental standards. A third factor was the growing burden that the collected leachate posed on the municipal sewage treatment system, which received the discharge from the environmental control systems.

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Waste placement in Cell 3A, underlain by liner and leachate collection system.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The redesigned landfill will make it easier and more efficient to install a LFG collection system connected to a flare, or possibly even an electrical generator.â&#x20AC;? April/May 2009 www.solidwastemag.com 9

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Barrie Landfill â&#x20AC;&#x201D; major site features.

Waste is screened using a rotary trommel screen.

Composite geosynthetic liner construction in Cell 3A.

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COVER STORY

Solutions

positive side-benefit will be to increase site life These concerns, plus a desire to deal with by up to seven years. the long term implications of the site and its The solution, developed by Golder Assocontrols, called for a more comprehensive ciates, involves the progressive construction solution. That solution — reclamation and reof a new landfill liner that isolates the landfill engineering of the landfill — was developed from the underlying ground. This is followed and included in an updated “development and by processing the existing landfill waste to operations” report approved by the provincial remove excess sand cover soil, and transferenvironment ministry in 2006. ring the remainder into the newly-lined landfill The solution now being implemented is exspace (with a higher degree of compaction). pected to help solve another issue as well. This process will be repeated in the entire Like many other municipalities, Barrie western part of the landfill. is running out of landfill space, and the capThe first step was to prepare part of the acity of the site was anticipated to be reached existing space — Cell 3A in the diagram — so in 2017. The city also recognized the benefit that it could better protect groundwater from in extending the period before a lengthy and leachate infiltration, as part of a construction costly process of applying for a new landfill program carried out by Golder Associates Ingroundworks/MC7564/SWR 12/5/08 10:23 AM Page 1 would be needed. As a result of the reclamanovative Applications (GAIA) in 2007. This tion (mining) processes described below, a involved building a 240,000 cubic metre en-

gineered “cell” to capture the leachate. The “cell” consists of a state-of-the-art single composite liner and leachate collection system. The liner consists of geosynthetic clay (GCL) liner (two geotextile layers with clay between them) manufactured in Barrie overlain by a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) liner and a protective sand layer. The HDPE sheets are double-welded to leave a gap between the welds (used for leak testing). Above the membrane layer is a drainage system involving 200 mm diameter perforated pipe to collect leachate, overlain by a 500 mm layer of five-centimetre (two-inch) diameter crushed stone. The crushed stone consists of granite rather than the usual limestone, which is expected to better withstand the dissolving effects of leachate. Above the granite layer is a protective geosynthetic filter fabric, another

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COVER STORY

Loading the trommel screen.

Screened fines stockpile.

3D renderings of the mining project (by John Campo).

layer of sand, topped by a second filter fabric (to filter the leachate/waste prior to entering the collection system). At the lowest point in the landfill cell is a deep manhole connected to the City’s sanitary sewer system, and ultimately the municipal wastewater treatment plant.

New waste-processing methods

The next stage of the process takes advantage of further developments in waste management technology, and involves waste reclamation

(mining) or, in effect, “recycling” of the existing waste to reduce its bulk. In many cases waste has partly decomposed and is more amenable to changing its shape into a less bulky form. In a pilot mining project completed in late 2007 and early 2008 under harsh winter conditions, a six-foot diameter 21-foot long rotating drum (trommel) screen was used to screen the in-place waste to determine production rates as well as to assess slope stability issues. In the full-scale project, two seven-foot

diameter 33-foot long trommel screens will be fed by a bulldozer and a large excavator fitted with a hydraulic “thumb.” The resultant largerdiameter “overs” discharged from the screen will be placed in the lined landfill cell. Recyclable materials such as wire and other metal (as well as rubber tires) will be separated prior to screening and sent to a licensed recycling facility. Bulky items from the excavated waste, as well as those from the incoming fresh waste, will be processed with a low-speed grinder; this will transform items such as furniture,

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COVER STORY

“The fines will be re-used as daily cover for the ‘overs’ and incoming fresh waste, thus optimizing use of the reclaimed landfill space.”

mattresses, tree stumps and construction demolition waste into smaller pieces to reduce voids and improve compaction. The “fines” that pass through the screen consist mostly of sand that had previously been used as daily cover, and fine decayed organic material. These fines will be re-used as daily cover for the “overs” and incoming fresh waste, thus optimizing the use of the reclaimed landfill space. Recent changes to provincial regulations will require that many medium-sized landfills collect landfill gas (LFG), a byproduct of the anaerobic decay of waste. At the Barrie landfill, this gas is passively vented into the atmosphere; however, the redesigned landfill will make it

easier and more efficient to install a LFG collection system connected to a flare, or possibly even an electrical generator. This will result in a reduction in the greenhouse gas generation potential of the LFG — another benefit to the environment. A landfill in the Ottawa area that Golder designed received provincial approval to use shredded rubber from waste tires in place of

some of the crushed stone drainage layer in the leachate collection system. This approach will be considered in the re-design of the Barrie landfill and, if it is a viable option, would help reduce the need to find a solution for tires previously disposed of at the landfill.

Sandy Coulter, B.Sc., is Manager of Environmental Operations for the City of Barrie, Ontario. Contact Sandy at scoulter@barrie.ca Paul Dewaele, MSc, P.Eng., is a Senior Environmental Engineer in the Barrie, Ontario office of Golder Associates Ltd. Contact Paul at pdewaele@golder.com @ARTICLECATEGORY:790;

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by Salman Zafar

WA S T E - T O - E N E R G Y

“Based on the requirement, about 5 to10 per cent binder/additives are mixed with the fluff to produce good quality fuel pellets.”

Waste Pelletization An overview

he enormous increase in the quantum and diversity of waste materials has led to an increasing awareness about the need to adopt scientific methods for their safe disposal. While there is an obvious need to minimize the generation of wastes and to reuse and recycle them, the technologies for recovery of energy can play a vital role. These technologies can lead to a substantial reduction in the overall waste quantities requiring final disposal, which can be better managed for safe disposal while meeting pollution control standards. As is well known, conventional stand-alone waste-to-energy (WTE) plants utilize municipal solid waste as fuel rather than materials such as coal, oil or natural gas. Waste pelletization offers an interesting flexible alternative since pellets can be sent to a variety of approved industrial applications (e.g., greenhouses). (See article, page 19.) Pelletization of municipal solid waste involves the processes of segregating, crushing, mixing high-and low-heat value organic waste material and solidifying it to produce fuel pellets or briquettes, also referred to as refuse derived fuel (RDF). The process condenses the waste or changes its physical form and enriches its organic content through removal of inorganic materials and moisture. The calorific value of RDF pellets can be around 4000 kcal/ kg depending upon the percentage of organic matter in the waste, plus additives and binder materials used in the pelletization process. (For instance, a producer could add post-industrial plastic to the “recipe” to boost BTU value.) Since pelletization enriches the organic content of the waste through removal of inorganic materials and moisture, it can be very effective method for preparing an enriched fuel feed for other thermo-chemical processes like pyrolysis/gasification, apart from incineration. Pellets can be used for heating plant boilers and for the generation of electricity. The important applications of RDF are found in the following spheres: • Cement kilns • RDF power plants • Coal-fired power plants • Industrial steam/heat boilers • Pellet stoves The conversion of solid waste into briquettes provides an alternative means for disposal of garbage which is currently disposed in landfills. There are several advantage associated with pelletization, such as: • High calorific value fuel • Uniform physical and chemical composition

Garbage Solar Drying

• Low moisture content • Ease of storage, handling and transportation • Lower pollutant emissions • Reduction of excess air requirements during combustion • Use of the main by-product, ash, in brick-kilns • Improved energy conversion efficiency • Can be used in a variety of stoker boilers and standalone facilities.

Production of fuel pellets

Shredding Screening Size Reduction Densification Stabilization Pelletization

An RDF production line consists of several unit operations in series in order to separate unwanted components and condition the combustible matter to obtain the required characteristics. The main unit operations are screening, shredding, size reduction, classification, separation (either metal, glass or wet organic materials), drying and densification. These unit operations can be arranged in different sequences depending on the raw waste composition and the required RDF quality. Manual separation: In mixed waste, bulky items such as appliances, furniture, etc. and specified contaminants (e.g. hazardous waste) can be removed manually before mechanical processing. Manual sorting also serves as a recycling process for paper, glass/plastic containers and aluminum cans. Equipment involved in manual separation usually includes a sorting belt or table. Size reduction: Size reduction is an important unit operation in waste processing facilities since it gives a good degree of size uniformity to the raw waste. Sometimes, secondary or tertiary shredding is required for production of the desired quality of RDF. A hammer mill is commonly used for mixed wastes while shear shredder is employed for materials that are difficult to shred such as tires, aluminum and plastic. Screening: Screening results in size separation by dividing the waste into two streams called oversize (retained on the screen) and undersize (passed through the screen) fractions. Trommel screens are commonly used due to their effectiveness and efficiency. Disc screens are used for separation of inorganic fractions from waste streams. Air classification: Air classification is a separation process governed by the difference in aerodynamic characteristics of waste. The process involves an interaction among moving streams of air, shredded wastes

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WA S T E - T O - E N E R G Y

and gravitational force. In air clasBased on the requirement, about 5 sification of shredded mixed waste, to 10 per cent binder/additives are paper and plastic materials tend to mixed with the fluff to produce good be concentrated in the light fracquality fuel pellets. The pellets comtion and metals and glasses are the ing out of the densification unit are main components of the heavy cooled, bagged and stored in the pellet fraction. storage yard for dispatch. Municipal Magnetic separation: Magwaste requires pre-processing to preSchematic diagram of a waste-to-energy plant netic separation is used to segregate pare fuel pellets to improve its consistbased on pelletization ferrous metals. The magnetic metal ency, storage and handling characterisrecovery per unit weight of total magnetic metal in mixed municipal tics, combustion behaviour and calorific value. Technological im足provements are taking place in the realms of advanced source separawaste is about 80 per cent for single stage magnets. Higher recovery tion, resource recovery and production/utilisation of recovered fuel in rates can be achieved by using multi-stage magnetic separation (as high both existing and new plants for this purpose. There has been an increase as 85-90 per cent when used after the air classifier). in global interest in the preparation of RDF containing a blend of preDrying and densification: The moisture content in municipal waste processed MSW with coal suitable for combustion in pulverised coal can be as high as 55 per cent even during non-rainy days and requires and fluidised bed boilers. drying to produce the pellets with reasonable heating value. The moisture level is brought down to around 15 per cent through a multistage Salman Zafar manages the renewable energy advisory firm BioEnergy drying system. Drying can be done by solar or by hot air drying or by a Consult in Aligarh, India. Contact Salman at salman.alg@gmail.com combination of both. @ARTICLECATEGORY:2242;

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by Guy Crittenden

WA S T E - T O - E N E R G Y

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The material is combined with high-BTU admixture materials such as carpet waste, poly film or other plastic derivatives.â&#x20AC;?

Waste Pellets for Energy The Dongara pelletization plant in York Region, Ontario

he Dongara Pellet Factory Inc. is a new facility located in the southeast corner of Vaughan, Ontario at the intersection of Highway 27 and Highway 407. The plant is the end result of an RFP issued in 2003 to handle 70,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste for York Region (just north of Toronto). After winning the RFP the project grew in scope and ultimately secured a 20-year contract to receive 100,000 tonnes per year of waste from York Region, with the intent to ramp up to 200,000 tonnes, some of which will likely come from York and the remainder from the surrounding regions. The facility receives municipal waste from a combination of street and compactor trucks from surrounding transfer stations. Waste is processed to remove recyclables and unwanted residue and hazardous materials, with positively selected waste shredded and sent to fiberizing and pelletization equipment. Fuel pellets are then produced with chemistry within customer and environmental agency limits, based on end use, paying particular attention to thermal and elemental breakdown. (See

overview article, page 14.) The tonnage of fuel pellets produced is approximately 95 per cent of incoming waste tonnages, through the replacement of residue, recyclables and moisture with high BTU additive, which ranges anywhere from 15 to 30 per cent by weight, dependent on season. The fuel pellets are formulated to have an energy content of approximately 10,000 to 12,000 BTU/lb, with a density of approximately 40 to 45 lbs/cu ft, and moisture content no greater than eight per cent. This makes the fuel pellet competitive with coal in energy content, but with much cleaner chemistry, thus allowing possible end-use customers currently using dirtier fuels to improve their emission profiles. The facility started receiving municipal waste under contract in July, 2008. The patented technology, exclusively licensed to Dongara, is owned by Sentinel Waste International Ltd, a private company in Canada, with a planned transfer of the technology to Dongara over a limited time period. The dense fuel pellets are currently used to heat large com-

1. Tip floor

2. Computerized control room

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3. Baler for removed recyclables

4. Front end equipment

5. Pelletizer

6. Pellets in drying unit

7. Pellet storage silo

8. Storage unit

April/May 2009 www.solidwastemag.com 17

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20998 Pa

WA S T E - T O - E N E R G Y

9. Dungara plant

mercial greenhouses in Ontario, as well as transported for use in cement kilns. In both cases they displace coal, coke or bunker C oil. The primary objective of this process, trademarked as Enerpax+, is to reduce the transportation of significant volumes of municipal waste presently disposed of in landfill into an environmentally acceptable fuel product, used beneficially by energy consumers currently dependent on coal, oil or natural gas. A side benefit is that the volume of methane gas released from landfill is reduced. The process captures and recycles up to 98 per cent of all recyclable materials still within the waste such as Type 1 and 2 plastics, aluminum, tin, and glass.

The process

Residential waste is dropped on the tip floor. The building is kept under negative pressure to mitigate odour release. Obvious hazardous or large materials are removed to the side for later use or disposal. The remainder is moved to subfloor pits, then opened and transferred onto a series of transverse conveyors, where it passes through size-separation trommels, coarse screens and Ti-Tech plastic removal systems, as well as magnets and eddy currents to select and separate ferrous and non-ferrous materials. Much of the front-end system at the plant was supplied by Bollegraaf and is arranged in an efficient footprint. Material suitable for pelletization is positively selected, with a small amount of residue set aside for disposal. The materials suited for fuel pellet produc-

10. Waste storage silos

tion are shredded, fiberized and stored in storage silos. This material is later combined with high-BTU admixture materials such as carpet waste, poly film or other acceptable plastic derivatives. The materials are transferred through pellet mills to produce the final fuel pellet, stored, then transported to end users.

Environmental performance

The pellets have been tested by four accredited independent labs. Tests indicate that constituent elements will allow emissions that are superior in environmental terms than those presently seen from the burning of coal, bunker C oil, coke, tire derived fuel, or other non-engineered residential waste products. The facility incorporates an in-house certifiable-level testing laboratory to ensure the pellets and other materials are systematically tested on an ongoing basis for consistency and to ensure no harmful chemicals make their way into the pellet prior to shipping. The environmental impacts of the pellet production plant are minimal, as no burning takes place throughout the process. Air emissions are restricted to ensure that the Ontario odour limit is maintained within the property; this is achieved by use of a bio-filter located under the plant floor that allows exhaust of air to a maximum of 200,000 cfm. Odour, dust and debris are contained within the facility through an air supply system that ensures a negative air balance, using approximately 3 to 3.5 air changes per hour, with as high as 5 to 6 air changes in high odour centres within the plant. Air filtration screening inhib-

its dust from leaving the plant via the exhaust location. Debris is contained since all waste is off-loaded inside the tip floor area. Water pollution control is dealt with by the use of a biological treatment system including pre-treatment and tertiary treatment systems; this ensures water quality reaches regional requirements to discharge to the local sanitary sewage system. Approximately 25 per cent of wastewater emerging from processing and wash-down of the plant is recycled after treatment to minimize discharge to the local system, as well as to minimize incoming water requirements. Noise from machinery and motors is contained within the plant using appropriately designed exterior wall skin. Every kW used at the plant to produce pellets, on an hourly basis, generates at least eight to nine times that in electrical energy via the end process of burning./gasifying the pellets. Stone, large gravel and large pieces of glass are separated and issued to companies in the brick and concrete industries. PVC, as an unwanted material in the pellet, is also separated and sent to markets such as lawn furniture manufacturers. The residue is a mix of small fractions of glass, sand and gravel, as well as items such as â&#x20AC;&#x153;kitty litterâ&#x20AC;? and other non-useable organic wastes. Typically, residue represents about seven to eight cents of incoming waste. Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine. ConÂ tact Guy at gcrittenden@solidwastemag.com @ARTICLECATEGORY:2242;

18 www.solidwastemag.com April/May 2009

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RECYCLING

by Guy Crittenden “‘The packaging market is where we have trouble right now,’ Metauro said.”

Weathering the Storm Report from a seminar on recycling markets in the current downturn

n Wednesday March 25, 2009 the Municipal Waste Integration network (MWIN) held a seminar entitled “How Have You Weathered the Storm with Your Recyclables in 2009?” at the offices of Durham Region, Ontario. Moderator Angelos Bacopoulos welcomed a group of panelists and people participating via conference call. Following introductions, each panelist was asked to give a short overview about their situation in the current market, followed by discussion. Durham Region’s Craig Bartlett led with the observation that the downturn in overall economy and depressed market prices for recycled commodities has significantly decreased high-value material scavenging in Durham Region. Has also noted that overall waste generation has dropped about three per cent. Six months ago, where white goods/appliances collection contractors were used to actually collecting only a tonne of material (compared to 30 tonnes set out for collection) due to scavenging, they’re now getting 30 tonnes of material again.

The Ontario Ministry of Environment’s Doris Dumais said that since the last MWIN recycling markets seminar in the fall, the ministry has put together Fact Sheets about temporary storage of recyclables and ramped up internal education on how to handle storage issues. (This was in response to concern in the waste industry that ministry inspectors would be intolerant of recyclables stored for longer periods of time due to lack of buyers.) The ministry, she noted, hasn’t recalled any certificates of approval (C of As) related to storage purposes and has in fact approved one recycling plant C of A amendment to increase storage capacity. Overall, she observed that it looks like the industry is managing material flow well. “Municipalities have expressed concern about how the downturn in recycling revenues will impact blue box funding,” stated Durham Region’s Peter Veiga. “For clarification to participants from outside Ontario, in Ontario, industry — through Stewardship Ontario — pays 50 per cent of municipal net blue box costs.”

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On Wednesday March 25, 2009 the Municipal Waste Integration network (MWIN) held a seminar entitled “How Have You Weathered the Storm with Your Recyclables in 2009?” at the offices of Durham Region, Ontario.

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RECYCLING

“BC is looking at increasing its landfill tax to $15/tonne but has concerns this wouldn’t increase waste diversion, just waste exports.”

Data collected through the annual WDO datacall on revenues for each material, as well as gross costs, are entered into the Blue Box Funding Formula to calculate net program costs and the share that industry will pay in any given year. Veiga noted that the funding model has a built-in safety feature to protect against sharp up or down turns in material revenues, since it employs a 3-year average revenue in calculating net program costs. The current-year basket of goods price is determined and average with that of the previous two years. The three year average basket of goods price is then multiplied by the current year (reported tonnes marketed) to arrive at current-year gross revenue for funding pur-

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poses. (In the end, current year net cost equals current year gross minus three-year average gross revenue.) The 2009 revenues are set at $60,179,095 which is about 16 per cent higher than 2008 funding, Veiga said, adding that municipalities will do well if they budgeted no change in 2009 from their 2008 WDO revenue actuals. “The 2010 funding will be determined in mid-2009 and will be based on 2006, 2007, and 2008 revenues,” Veiga said. “It will capture the revenue drop that occurred in 2008 Q4.”

Stewardship Ontario has also been helping develop recycling material markets. The organization focused on the glass market in the first two years of its mandate. About $2.8 million was paid by the glass stewards to develop new glass processing capacity. Ontario now has well over 100,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of glass processing capacity. For 2008, $2.4 million was raised to work toward increased plastics recovery. An RFP was issued December 5, 2008 that closed on March 5, 2009. Preferred respondents will be identified in early April with negotiations commencing mid-April. Donna Roberts of Atlantic Packaging (a major buyer of recycled fibre) stated that Feb-

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RECYCLING

ruary and March saw significant downtime at no domestic market, only export (and that is its mills due to low orders. drying up). The overall paper mix has changed “Hopefully the worst is over,” she said. recently from 80 per cent ONP to just 50 per Near-future scheduling has downtime cent. There could be a shortage of ONP if the scaled back to one to two days at a time trend continues. compared to week-long shutdowns recently The Ontario Waste Management Associexperienced. Atlantic Packaging has secured ation’s (OWMA) Rob Cook agreed that manew ONP clients that will make up for reduced terial is moving but at lower prices. Municidemand from existing ONP customers (due to palities and contractors have been able to work lower newspaper circulation). Reduced newsthrough the issues to avoid significant storage paper circulation (and thinner newspapers), and to avoid disposal options. In the IC&I secsome participants noted, is part of the global tor, a shift has occurred wherein contractors, economic downturn but also part of a long-term who formerly provided rebates for OCC, now trend as more and more people (especially the charging collection fees. This has resulted in a young) gather their news and information from drop in the supply of this material. other media such as the Internet. Al Metauro heads up Metro Waste Paper ReONP pricing has stabilized due to relacovery, which operates plants across North Amertively good exports, Roberts said, although ica. He was able to provide a useful contractor’s Walinga VC2336 6/11/07 2:36 PM Page 1 prices are low. Residential mixed paper has perspective on the difficult recycling market.

N O W

“Many domestic paper mills are still experiencing downtime,” Metauro said, “but exports have increased to take up surplus materials. “However, increased demand has not resulted in increased pricing, which has stabilized at a low level.” Metauro noted that material generation is low from both commercial and municipal sources, which is particularly important since March and April (along with the fall months) are busy times of the year. “What’s going to happen come summer?” Metauro asked, adding that he doubts there will be any upward movement in material prices in the near future. Volume and prices are down so much that in many cases it costs more to process material than can be recovered in sales to end-markets. At the same time, the demand for quality has

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RECYCLING

gone up, Metauro said. This has put extreme pressure on the operators of single-stream recycling programs. “Current revenues don’t justify the extra work required to improve sorting to meet increasing quality specs because revenues are less than operating costs,” he said. He agreed with one participant’s observation that potential future government “buy recycled” could be helpful, but only to a limited extent. “We don’t have a problem with fine papers,” Metauro said. “The paper packaging market is where we have trouble right now.” Metauro offered that manufacturers need to either increase their use of post-consumer recycled content in packaging materials or reduce the amount of packaging they produce. He added that a risk from green procurement programs is that if they increase the demand

for fine paper, this would eat into the supply for tissue and hurt the tissue industry. Metauro said he’s optimistic that an upturn is coming, but the big question remains “when?” His comments led Donna Roberts to add that ONP can only be stored for about three months before paper brightness and “runability” are affected. Karl Allen of Northumberland County operates a single-stream recycling program that services 200,000 residents. Northumberland completed upgrades to its MRF in October 2008 and is trying hard to meet market specs, and is having difficulty moving material. Allen said that the county is getting $62/ tonne for its “basket of goods.” He offered the following price breakdown: $57/t for fibre, $51/t for OCC, $30-$40/t for #6 mixed fibres, $0.08USD/lb for PET, $0.125USD/lb for

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HDPE, and $0-$10/t for plastic film. He said that the local glass market has shut down and the county is shipping glass to US at a cost of $64/t. The county doesn’t collect polystyrene or polypropylene, but does make a mixed plastic bale which last December went for $15/t but is now going for zero. (It’s worth remembering that if a bale of recycled material is worth nothing or even has a negative value, if that is less than landfill tip fees this can still make recycling economically advantageous over disposal. — ed.) The experience is similar outside Ontario. Participants outside the province included Will Burrows (Coast Waste Management Association in BC) and Mark Fox (Lafleche Environmental in Quebec). Both stated that materials have started moving again but prices are down.

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Fox explained that Quebec’s environment ministry has announced initiatives to help recycling markets and has agreed to provide loan guarantees to help facilities increase material quality. However, Fox stated, such agreements require facilities to get bank approvals, so the ministry’s program in fact ends up guaranteeing loans for large facilities that don’t need the loans, and not the small operators who do. Quebec is introducing legislation to allow municipalities to amend and extend existing contracts and is offering $6 million to subsidize recycling plant renovations (which everyone agreed was too little since a single plant renovation can cost more than that amount). The government is setting up a committee to study the recycling markets issue and a possible subsidy for recycling workers’ salaries (although calls to the ministry about that have not been returned). Quebec is also talking about green procurement policies to boost recycling and the establishment of a recycling rate stabilization reserve fund. Metro Waste Paper Recovery’s Gary Sextant was asked about the Chinese market and said that the Chinese economy is facing the same challenges as everyone else and has responded by protecting its domestic market. “This policy impacts our exports since most are to China,” Sextant said. If Chinese domestic demand falls, China reduces its import of material. Growth in China is down to about 6 or 6.5 per cent, whereas 8 per cent is needed to sustain healthy exports to China. He doesn’t fore-

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see significant price increases from China or India, and mentioned that China could pull out of the North American recycling market if prices increase significantly. Other discussions included whether any increase in oil prices would help or hinder plastics recycling markets. Al Metauro thought that it could be a wash, since the value of plastic would increase, but so would the transportation and operating costs. He sees demand and pricing just “floating” over the next year, and noted that end markets are having a hard time paying their bills. (He said he wouldn’t be surprised to see one or two recycling companies go bankrupt this year. He told Craig Bartlett that single-stream MRFs are finding it harder to move material than the higher quality materials coming out of two-stream MRFs.) Jaan Koel (TetraPak) asked Karl Allen about what’s happening with polycoat containers. Allen replied that Northumberland does not produce much polycoat, but the last load shipped in November 2009 through broker REMM for $40/t. He said that broker Paper Tigers is no longer accepting polycoat. Gary Sextant added that Paper Tigers markets to a mill in Michigan which is bankrupt, and that there’s no domestic market for polycoat, only Korea (which is very specific about quality and pays $10-$20/t.) Another discussion related to whether or not increase landfill tip fees or disposal taxes could help boost recycling markets. Mark Fox noted that most Quebec landfills are privately owned and have abundant space. There’s a provincial landfill tax of $10/t that municipalities pay as well as IC&I users. The portion paid by IC&I users is given back to municipalities to help them pay for their recycling programs (but there’s no follow-up to ensure this is happening). Quebec is looking at increasing the tax to $20/t. Brian Carrow added that BC is looking at increasing its landfill tax to $15/t but has concerns this wouldn’t increase waste diversion, just waste exports. (Metro Vancouver is considering exporting waste to Washington State.) Angelos Bacopoulos reminded everyone that Toronto’s raising of its Keele Valley tip fees in the 1990s from $30/t to $150/t drove waste out of the province. IC&I waste coming into the landfill dropped from 1.3 million tonnes per year to just 100,000 tonnes. Craig Bartlett said that Ontario’s recycling infrastructure currently handles about one million tonnes per year of material. What impact, he asked, would mandating IC&I recycling have on Ontario recycling infrastructure and material pricing? Rob Cooke replied that IC&I recycling is a high priority for the Ontario government and that fast implementation would stress existing infrastructure and flood the market with material, further eroding material prices. “However,” he said, “good public policy will look at a long-term phased approach with targeted industry sectors to allow infrastructure and markets time to expand and adjust to change.” The OWMA has a proposal before the environment ministry for a $10/t fee at all Ontario transfer stations and landfills and agrees that to much of an increased tip fee could increase waste export. (See article, page 46.) His association members are seeing increased export to New York with the pending closure of the Michigan border to Ontario municipal waste. Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine. Thanks to Craig Bartlett for sharing notes from this seminar. Contact Guy at gcrittenden@ solidwastemag.com For more information, visit www.mwin.org @ARTICLECATEGORY:793; 800;

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C O M P O S T I N G M AT T E R S

by Paul van der Werf “The industry needs to come to a place where poor performance and bad actors are ostracized.”

Perfecting the Brand Compost versus “composting”

find that during these times when everything seems to be creaking and slowing down that I need to speed up and work harder just to try and keep up. It is of course a function of operating a consultancy. When you’re busy fulfilling contracts you’re still busy chasing new ones. When the marketplace changes, you’re trying to define a new one. And as with all things it comes down to fundamentals: the basics of running a business and keeping it afloat. This “first principles” approach is useful in all sorts of applications. As I prepared for the recent Composting Council of Canada “Composting Matters” workshop, in London, Ontario at which I moderated a panel on odour control, it struck me that as an industry we have perfected many of the fundamentals of processing organic waste, whether to produce compost or (more recently) energy.

However, some challenges still remain. It’s useful to think of composting and compost as a collective brand. Brands are obviously much more than the trademarks or logos with which they’re associated. Brands are a collection of feelings, opinions and associations that consumers or potential consumers have towards the products the brand represents. Large and small companies work very hard to develop and then maintain their brands. For instance during the recent Listeria outbreak, Maple Leaf Foods worked very hard to explain the situation to the public, what they were going to do solve it, and (at the end) what they did to solve the situation. On the other hand, and at about the same time Bernard Madoff, was doing about the opposite to his family’s — as it turned out, falsely constructed — brand. Composting and compost are a brand certainly on a macro level and on many micro levels. As an industry I think it is useful to think of compost in this way so that we better understand the good and sometimes the bad associations our actions can have on what is our collective brand. “Compost” as a brand has great associations. I think if you asked the average man (but certainly woman) on the street they would view compost as a product as something that is positive, good for the earth and so on. This name recognition and consumer’s positive feelings are a result of the hard work of an industry to make a high quality product. Efforts such as the Composting Council’s Compost Quality Alliance are trying to extend that further and ultimately further build up the consumer’s trust. “Composting” (note the suffix) as a brand, on the other hand, has a spotty track record at best. While many operators out there understand what they’re doing and ably control their processes others have haphazardly put infrastructure in place not really caring about outcomes and creating significant odour nuisances. Even the best run facilities have had process upsets and incidents of off-site odour. Solving problems is generally a quantitative exercise: finding the right pieces and putting them in place. The management of odour from composting facilities has proved to be elusive. Outdoor operations focus on dispersion to dissipate odours. This is really no odour control at all, relying on distance and (hopefully gracious) meteorological conditions. However, it can and does work (certainly for leaf and yard waste) although the industry is hitting walls with getting outdoor systems to work for source-separated organics and (surprisingly) to a lesser extent, biosolids. Even some indoor composting facilities with superior odour abatement infrastructure have had challenges. People surrounding proposed composting facilities are quite rightly skeptical about odour as an issue. While I cannot emphasize enough that there are many well run composting facilities there are enough poorly operated ones to warrant neighbourhood skepticism that is beyond simple NIMBYism. To grow our industry to the next level we need to set a goal that in the next three to five years we’ll work to perfect our composting sys-

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C O M P O S T I N G M AT T E R S

EMF a

tems and eliminate odour as an issue. We need to improve the composting brand so that only good things are associated with it. The state of this challenge is three-fold: 1. The state of odour assessment and monitoring is reasonable but requires significant improvement. Odour dispersion modeling is imperfect and requires refinement to more accurately discern where odour could be an issue. An improvement in this area will facilitate better up front assessment and ultimately better siting of composting facilities. 2. Odour abatement technology requires further refinement and more universal implementation. A number of companies manufacture odour abatement infrastructure such as biofilters. Based on performance, it’s clear that this part of the industry has progressed. However, there’s still considerable room for improvement in terms of efficacy but (more importantly) in terms of technology implementation. Compost facilities sometimes balk at the cost of biofiltration systems and inexplicably use a DIY approach. Odour control is too important to not bring in professionals to at least design if not install a proper biofilter or odour abatement infrastructure. 3. Facilities are not always operated properly. There are some unfortunate examples of poor quality compost facilities and/or operators who don’t operate their facilities properly or don’t share most of the industry’s values when it comes to impacting the area surrounding the compost facility. You can have a well located site with great odour abatement infrastructure but if you do not operate the facility well it can be all for naught. This includes fugitive emissions — that is, odours not captured by odour abatement infrastructure. This can be a real thorn in the side of composting facilities. The industry needs to come to a place where poor performance and bad actors are ostracized. It needs to be made very clear that this type of performance is unacceptable. Ultimately we want compost and composting brands that people only associate with good things. If odour continues to be an issue some other form of waste processing will eventually emerge and prove to be a better option. If odour is no longer an issue then composting and other forms of organic waste processing

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will be able to realize what seems like limitless potential. This challenge is eminently solvable — and should be.

Paul van der Werf is president of 2cg Inc. in London, Ontario. Contact Paul at www.2cg.ca @ARTICLECATEGORY:784;

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WA S T E B U S I N E S S

by John Nicholson, M.Sc.,P.Eng. “With $16.1 million in funding for the remainder of 2009, the CIF is a fund in need of projects.”

Bridging a Funding Gap The Continuous Improvement Fund

aste Diversion Ontario (WDO) is a non-crown corporation created under the province’s Waste Diversion Act (WDA) with the mandate to develop, implement and operate waste diversion programs for a wide range of materials. One of the main waste streams included in WDO’s mandate is the material found in the blue box. As one of its duties as a provincially mandated stewardship organization, WDO oversees the Continuous Improvement Fund (CIF) to financially assist Ontario-based municipalities that engage in projects that will increase the efficiency of municipal curbside recycling and help boost system effectiveness. Approximately $42 million is available to the WDO over the next three years to invest in stewardship projects. Since its inception in 2008, $10.5 million has been approved by the CIF to fund 29 projects. Three of the major projects already funded in-

clude ones in the Region of York, the City of London, and the Bluewater Recycling Association. These projects were designed to increase processing capacity for blue box programs by 90,000 tonnes per year. While the regions that are funded will enjoy the increased capacity themselves, the majority of the increased capacity is planned for use by neighbouring municipalities on a shared regional basis. There is $16.3 million in funds available for 2009 and the CIF is actively looking for projects to fund. Municipalities are awarded CIF support in two ways. They may be approached by CIF to take on high priority and often higher risk projects that have been identified as being required by CIF staff, recycling industry experts and CIF committees. Municipalities are also encouraged to apply to CIF, identifying community-specific projects.

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WA S T E B U S I N E S S

269-793-7183 Phone 269-793-8793 Fax

“With respect to one type of plastic – polystyrene – Ontario-based markets are expanding significantly.” Plastic recycling a priority

Of particular interest to CIF staff is the additional collection of plastic packaging as part of the blue box program. Presently, some municipalities are collecting a full range of plastic packaging but many still do not. With respect to one type of plastic — polystyrene — Ontario-based markets are expanding significantly. Grace Canada, based in Ajax, and the Canadian Polystyrene Recycling Alliance, based in Port Hope, recycle polystyrene and are looking to expand. However, more municipalities do not collect polystyrene than do, in part because of costs. With respect to other types of plastic material, there’s a dearth of processing capacity in Ontario. WDO data shows that in 2007 only 53,000 tonnes of plastic packaging were actually collected in Ontario — less than 25 per cent of the 230,000 tonnes originally generated into the market. Capacity has decreased over the last year due to the loss of Asian markets. More plants are planned in Ontario but there is still a big need for a capacity. Some resin compounder firms do an admirable job of handling the volume of plastic material they currently receive; these companies could increase their capacity or new entrants could make their way into this market.

Material recovery facilities

As the blue box program expands to include more material, material recovery (MRFs) will need to deal with increased loads. One way of handling increased blue box material streams is to increase the size and staff at the facility. Another means is technological innovation. Ideally, the CIF will fund projects that will allow municipalities to increase their processing capabilities by integration of technology and new state of the art equipment. Essentially, a goal of the fund is to promote “smarter” and more “efficient” ways of stewardship, not just “bigger” plants. The CIF is looking for projects to fund in the two priority areas. Whether it is a more modern method for recycling plastic materials, a new idea in processing, or a research and development project with an innovative concept, the CIF is interested. Usually there are projects and a lack of funding. With $16.3 million in funding for the remainder of 2009, the CIF is a fund in need of projects. The CIF is ready to put money on the table and fund projects that make sense. It will be interesting to see how soon new projects will appear now that there’s money available. John Nicholson, M.Sc., P.Eng., is a consultant based in Toronto, Ontario. Contact John at john.nicholson@ebccanada.com @ARTICLECATEGORY:793;

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EQUIPMENT

A Spot of Polish

The Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) Polishing Screen is the solid waste and recycling industry’s most innovative and effective separator of fibre and containers. With patented in-line discs, the BHS Polishing Screen is the only disc screen that virtually eliminates material

wrapping, resulting in reduced downtime, enhanced safety and extended screening efficiency in single stream systems. This screen is the pivotal component in the newly-installed automated recycling center for Wood Country Solid Waste Division in Ohio. “The key to this whole thing is the screen,”

says Scott Rieman, manager of the Bowling Green facility. “I call it the magic carpet.” Since the new system has been in operation, the recycling center has increased its recovery of recyclable materials by 93 per cent. The BHS Polishing Screen has the unique ability to create three material fractions: mixed fibre, containers and fines. The mixed fibre is conveyed over the screening surface, while the containers and three-dimensional objects roll off the back of the screen and are consolidated for sorting. The fines, consisting of bottle caps, dirt, grit and small fibre, fall through the screening surface and are conveyed for disposal. The three-sort unit provides an extremely clean container stream, resulting in improved recovery of valuable containers and virtually no loss of fibre to residue. BHS’ patented tri-disc composition has the longest disc wear in the industry and features a two-piece design for easy replacement of discs without shaft or bearing removal. The screen can be used as a second screen in a single stream system or as a primary screen in smaller systems. Visit www.bhsequip.com

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solutions@golder.com www.golder.com/waste April/May 2009 www.solidwastemag.com 33

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EQUIPMENT

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Harris’ superior horizontal & two-ram baler designs provide an innovative, lower maintenance, high-efficiency baling system. Harris prides itself on a tradition of designing equipment with performance and power in mind.

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Eagle Vizion’s NIR optical sorters are designed to detect and separates different types of material such as PET, HDPE natural, HDPE Colour, PVC, PP, PS, etc. Automated sorting allows you to fully control your operations, while ensuring high quality and higher throughput. Eagle Vizion is also looking for distributors everywhere in the US. Contact the company at info@eaglevizion.com

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EQUIPMENT

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Samuel Strapping Systems is a global packaging solutions provider that offers a complete range of vertical balers to accommodate all baling requirements. The recycling equipment line also includes stationary and self-contained compactors. Through the company’s direct sales and distribution programs, Samuel is positioned to ensure value with coverage that meets or exceeds expectations across North America. All equipment and products are made with stringent standards to ensure customers are supported with service levels that guarantee satisfaction. Initially launched in 2007, the company’s efforts were in response to customer inquiries. Realizing their frustration, Samuel began a process of identifying key features that customers sought. All equipment is manufactured and designed in compliance with ANSI Z245.5 (2004) — Baling Equipment — Safety Requirements for Installation, Maintenance and Operation. All balers and compactors are compliant to ANSI/CSA Z432-04 — Safeguarding of Machinery and are UL/CSA compliant. The equipment is in all kinds of facilities that recycle or otherwise manage waste material. This ranges from municipalities to home improvement centers, malls, other manufacturing facilities, textile outlets for clothing and more. The recycling equipment is accompanied by a range of baling wire products. • Single loop, double loop • Black annealed boxed and stem wire • Assorted galvanized stem wire • Cut and straight wire, merchant wire • Custom packaged, specialty wire Visit www.samuelstrapping.com

Understand the true, real-time service requirements of your compactors enabling you to provide service when service is required, not before and definitely not when it’s too late! • Maximize payload profitability on recyclables while enjoying cost reductions • Increase operating efficiencies, asset & personnel utilization and bottom line profitability! Call today to arrange a site demonstration 888-278-7343 or visit us at,… www.art-rfid.com and enjoy this years CWRE and be sure to visit us at Booth # 1463.

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by Paul Lima

M R F O P E R AT I O N

“Keep your answers short and focused – about 30 to 60 seconds per answer.”

When Accidents Happen How to prepare yourself for interviews with reporters

our plant experiences a hazardous spill or other upset such as an odour release. You invoke your emergency plan to get the word out to the authorities and the community. Once the media finds out, reporters flock to the scene and start peppering your staff with questions: • What happened? • How bad is it? • What went wrong? • Who is to blame for this? How do you answer the questions? Who from your firm should answer the questions? Whether your municipal or industrial plant has good news to share — such as an excellent safety record — or bad news such as the leak of hazardous materials, company executives have to be prepared to talk to the media. What executives and managers say can have a lasting impact on your business because the media helps shareholders, stakeholders, politicians and other Canadians form opinions. That’s why only designated spokespersons should talk to reporters. But before executives talk to reporters they need to prepare.

Spokespersons should review key messages, which means your executive team should develop key messages for various situations. Executives should know how to weave key messages into answers and they should also know how to answer difficult questions, especially if managing a crisis. For instance, if you are dealing with a crisis, say only what you are authorized to say. That means, before you are interviewed, you need to know what you can say. If there is an explosion or, say, an odour release at your place of business, reporters will want to know the cause. You might know the cause, or suspect the cause, but until the cause has been officially determined by the appropriate authorities, it is perfectly legitimate to say (in the case of an explosion or fire): “The Fire Marshall’s Office is investigating and they will release the results once their investigation is complete.” No matter how many times reporters ask you about the cause of the explosion, simply repeat what you are authorized to say: “The Fire Marshall’s Office is investigating and they will release the results once their investigation is complete.”

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36 www.solidwastemag.com April/May 2009

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“B

M R F O P E R AT I O N

Creating benefits

In most instances, however, you will not be managing a crisis per se?. Instead, you’ll be dealing with reporters following up on media releases sent out by your company to promote a new product, service, or event. You still want to know your key messages and use them, in an appropriate manner, when asking questions. For instance, if a journalist were writing an article about my media training services, I would expect the journalist to ask: “When did you start to conduct media training?” I could say, “In 2000.” However, why wouldn’t I answer the question like this: “Business owners and executives often have difficulty telling their stories to reporters. In 2000, I started to conduct media interview training to help business owners and executives prepare for media interviews. Two years ago, I also started to work with non-profit organizations.” I still answered the question honestly: “in 2000.” However, notice that in less than 15 seconds I worked in a problem, a solution and my target audience. The three points are integral parts of my key messages. If you keep this basic interview principle

in mind — you cannot control the questions but you can control your answers — you can actively prepare for interviews. By controlling your answers, you can actually influence the questions because the information you supply may spark questions the reporter had not planned to ask. In other words, if you say something interesting, the reporter will often ask follow-up questions. Even though you cannot write the story (or control the final edit of a radio or TV broadcast), you can influence the direction of the story. There are no guarantees that what you say will make it into the story, unless you are interviewed live on air; however, if you don’t convey your key messages, you won’t get your story out.

Preparation

To prepare for your interview, think about the impression you want to make and the most pertinent information you want to convey to readers or viewers. Write out potential questions and your answers. When you are being interviewed, keep your answers short and focused — about 30 to 60 seconds per answer. Supplement the answers with a few anecdotes

about your products, services, or customers that help demonstrate what you want to say. If possible, get permission to “drop the name” of an established customer or a customer who has derived great benefits by working with you. As you answer different questions, judiciously repeat key messages for emphasis, but make sure you also answer the questions, if authorized to do so, so you don’t sound like you’re in “spin” mode (like a politician during an election campaign — or at any time, come to think of it!). This might sound simple to do; however, unless you prepare for interviews, you might forget to convey the information you want to express, you might convey the wrong information, or you might convey information that circumstances dictate should be held back until you are authorized to release it. If you prepare, you’ll be able to articulately reply to simple, complex, or confrontational questions. Paul Lima is a Toronto-based freelance writer and media interview trainer. Contact Paul at writer@paullima.com @ARTICLECATEGORY:788;

Sustainable Environmental Solutions

Expertise converge AET Consultants forged a merger with EcoServices, Eco2 Systems and Integrated Green Building Concepts (IGBC) to form the AET Group. The merger completes the first step towards a collaborative effort to establish a solutions-based multi-discipilinary environmental consulting company and professional team recognized as a leading-expert in waste, ecology, building sciences, energy, and environmental management. This partnership allows the AET Group of companies to provide a diverse range of sustainable environmental solutions that will greatly enhance the resources and technical expertise available to our clients while maintaining the high quality service that they have come to expect from each of the member companies. More information about AET Consultants and the member companies (under the Affiliates web link) can be found at www.aet-group.com. This website will be updated in the near future to reflect the newly formed AET Group.

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R E G U L AT I O N R O U N D U P

Waste Initiatives across Canada

by Rosalind Cooper “C&D waste constitutes 23 per cent of waste to landfills in Alberta.”

National EPR action plan

trical products; household hazardous and special wastes; automotive The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) has products; construction and demolition materials; furniture; textiles and posted a discussion paper regarding its proposed “Canada-wide Action carpet; and, appliances. (See page 7 for more details.) Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility.” The discussion paper states BC expands recycling reg that Canada has not made sufficient progress with respect to the diverBritish Columbia’s Recycling Regulation has been amended to expand sion of solid waste, and provides statistics in support of this statement. the list of products subject to product stewardship requirements. The paper notes that Canadians generated 1,100 kilograms of municipal As of July 1, 2010, the electronic and electrical product category of solid waste per person in 2006 — an increase of 8 per cent from 2004. Schedule 3 of the regulation will be expanded to include information In addition, the paper notes diversion from landfill and incineration has technology or telecommunication devices or equipment; small appliances remained at 22 per cent, unchanged since 2004. (such as floor and carpet appliances, knives, hair dryers, scales and portThe discussion paper defines extended producer responsibility as “an able fans); audio visual and consumer equipment (such as radio sets, camenvironmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for eras, microphones and headphones; lighting equipment, parts and bulbs); a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of the product’s life electronic toys; and smoke detectors, alarm systems and thermostats. cycle”. The Canada-wide Action Plan is intended to provide guidance As of July 1, 2012, the electronic and electrical product category on the development and implementation of extended producer responwill be extended to include large electronic and electrical appliances sibility programs across the country and encourage producers to adopt (such as refrigerators, freezers, clothes washing machines and stoves); full life-cycle cost accounting for their products. and electrical or electronic tools such as drills, saws, sewing machines The plan would encourage Canadian jurisdictions to develop EPR and snow blowers. legislation to ensure that certain products and materials are included in Producers must submit, on or before January 1, 2010, a product operational programs within a specified timeframe. The products and plan respecting those products that will be included in the materials targeted include: packaging and printed materials; 1897 MetalOutAd_3_09:Layout 1 3/26/09 12:25compact PM Pagestewardship 1 regulation as of July 1, 2010 and, on or before January 1, 2012, a plan fluorescents and other lamps containing mercury; electronics and elec-

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R E G U L AT I O N R O U N D U P for those products that will be included as of July 1, 2012.

Ontario used tires plan

Ontario Tire Stewardship has submitted a used tires program plan to Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) for review and evaluation. The plan was approved by the Board of Directors of WDO subject to certain revisions. The revised plan has now been submitted to the minister of the environment. The Used Tires Program Plan addresses tires of all types for passenger and commercial on-road and off-the-road motorized vehicles. The plan is intended to provide opportunities for individual consumers and businesses to direct their used on-road and off-the-road tires to reuse, re-treading and recycling programs, and will be supported by a promotion and education program to encourage householders and businesses to participate. Financial incentives will be provided for organizations that collect, transport and process used tires in a manner that results in 90 per cent diversion of used onroad tires in the first year of the program and 50 per cent of off-the-road tires by year five of the program. The main objective of the plan is to support and expand a collection system comprised

of registered collectors, including tire dealers, auto wreckers, municipal depots and other collection agents accepting used tires from consumers. Other objectives of the plan are to clean up, within three years, all used tires currently being stockpiled, and to implement vendor qualification requirements to ensure used tires are collected, transport and processed in a safe and environmentally sound manner. The plan will collect $73.9 million in tire stewardship fees from brand owners and first importers of tires supplied to the Ontario market. The plan proposes a commencement date on the first day of the fourth month following approval of the plan unless the commencement date would fall in October, November, or December, in which case the commencement date will fall on the first day of the following January.

Alberta targets C&D waste

The Alberta Ministry of Environment is working in conjunction with the Alberta Construction Association and Canadian Home Builders’ Association of Alberta to develop a program to recycle construction and demolition (C&D) waste; this constitutes 23 per cent of waste directed to landfills in Alberta. The program is expected to be launched by 2010 and aims to divert a greater percentage

of C&D material from landfills — making the program the first of its kind in Canada — and to increase the recycling of building materials including concrete, asphalt, wood and drywall.

SO “Do What You Can” initiative

The industry funding organization responsible for blue box materials and municipal hazardous or special waste programs, Stewardship Ontario (SO), has launched a new initiative entitled “Do What You Can.” This initiative is intended to make it easier to recycle old batteries, paints, solvents and other household hazardous wastes by enabling drop off of these materials at locations other than municipal waste depots such as RONA, Home Depot, Jiffy Lube auto centres and others. The goal of the program is to double the amount of municipal hazardous or special waste diverted from landfill over the next five years. The program is funded through SO by brand owners or importers of the designated products. Rosalind Cooper, LL.B., is a partner with Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, with offices across Canada. Ms. Cooper is based in Toronto, Ontario. Contact Rosalind at rcooper@tor.fasken.com @ARTICLECATEGORY:800;

April/May 2009 www.solidwastemag.com 39

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by Darren Fry & Mike Watt, P.Eng.

LANDFILL TECHNOLOGY

“The project won the 2005 Silver Medal for Innovation and Excellence from the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships.”

Capturing Opportunities Developing landfill gas programs

dour control, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and renewable energy generation revenues are all benefits of a successful landfill gas utilization project. As with any reward however, there is typically associated risk. Landfill gas utilization projects come with a number of risks which must be identified and mitigated in order to succeed. Some typical risks include: — Power purchase and legal agreements; — Construction budget and schedule; — Landfill gas recovery (quantity/quality); and

— Overall project performance. Landfill gas projects may also require the coordination of several parties, which could include: the landfill owner, energy users, project developers, designers, contractors and utilities. In order to maximize the benefits from these projects, risks must be sufficiently mitigated and all parties’ interests must be aligned. Some critical decisions that need to be made before developing a landfill gas utilization project include: Project Ownership: landfill owner, project developer or local utility. Project Type: direct use, electricity generation, GHG emission reduction project, high-BTU (fuel conversion). Project Delivery: traditional design/bid/build/bid/operate vs. design/ build/own/operate vs. public-private-partnership (P3).

G E

Britannia Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project

Moisture is removed from the gas, which is then1compressed before Laurin VC2350 2/6/03 10:09 AM Page being fed into three 1.875 MW gensets.

Located in the heart of Mississauga, Ontario, the Britannia Landfill Gasto-Energy Project was developed using an innovative P3 method. The Britannia project exemplifies the benefits that can be achieved using a P3 model and provides an excellent example of risk allocation and project partner alignment. The Britannia project was developed in response to the Region of Peel’s desire to harness the energy contained in gas from the Britannia Landfill Site. In 2000, the region issued a Request for Proposals to landfill project developers. Respondents not only had to provide viable project plans (at a site bordered by residential developments) but also incorporate the City of Mississauga’s plans to develop a golf course at the closed landfill site. Integrated Gas Recovery Services Inc. (IGRS) was the successful respondent and its proposal mitigated the region’s risk by financing, designing, building and operating a 5.6 MW electricity generation project. In return, the region would support the project through a long-term commitment to purchase the renewable electricity generated by the project.

The Canadian Leader in the Manufacturing and Design of Environmental Equipment

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40 www.solidwastemag.com April/May 2009

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Green Energy: The Balancing Act mwin 2009 Conference and Trade Show June 22â&#x20AC;&#x201C;23, 2009 â&#x20AC;˘ Ajax Convention Centre

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conference, Green Energy: The Balancing Act will take a realistic look at how we incorporate green energy into daily waste management operations. Hear from all levels of government and senior private sector representa-

tives regarding policy, technology and economics and benefit from global, national and local perspectives on achieving the right balance in these areas. Optional components of the con-

ference include facility tours and the annual mwin golf tournament on June 22nd, followed by our popular dinner/awards banquet. These are valuable learning and networking opportunities that delegates find invaluable.

POLICY:

TECHNOLOGY:

ECONOMICS:

PERSPECTIVE:

Diverse government agendas create challenges and opportunities for municipalities and private waste organizations. Learn from green energy pioneers on how to reconcile and capitalize upon the opportunities and how to manage or avoid the challenges.

Taking green energy technologies from pilot projects to full-scale operations has impeded progress of many technologies. Panelists will share their experiences in moving from the research stage to operations stage and provide anecdotes that will help others to succeed.

Carbon credits, preferred rates, tax rebates, and other economic incentives have largely driven green energy initiatives to date. Hear from industry leaders how they have sorted out these economic factors and made sound business cases based upon sustainable end markets.

Has green energy finally become a real component of future energy plans for municipalities and private organizations, or is it still dependant upon prohibitive costs of traditional sources. Our expert panel provides the global, national, and local perspectives on this critical issue.

With support from our sponsors:

For more information or to register call 519.620.9654 or visit www.mwin.org

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Integrated Gas Recovery Services in Thorold, Ontario.

This long-term commitment from the region provided the revenue stability required for the project to be constructed. Construction started in February 2004 with the installation of the wellfield gas extraction system. The gas processing and electrical generation plant was completed in September 2005. The facility collects gas from approximately 60 extraction wells strategically located throughout the site, which is now a golf course. The gas is conveyed to the offsite power generation plant by a 600 metre pipeline. At the plant, moisture is removed from the gas, which is then compressed before being fed into Baycon-HMM 12/1/08 3:12 PM Page 1 three 1.875 MW gensets. Using a P3 model for this landfill gas utilization project provided the following benefits: — Collective power purchase agreement that met the needs of all parties;

— Expedited design/build construction schedule; — Cost-effective project budget; — Access to private capital resources; — Maximized project performance due to the project developer being the single point of responsibility for the several project components (i.e., facility design, wellfield operation and power plant operation). In conclusion, this model of project development offers private and public landfill operators the chance to garner a high quality collection and utilization system at little or no cost for medium to large landfills. Voluntary systems at smaller landfills can also benefit by taking advantage of emission reduction credits for simple wellfield and flaring systems. The Britannia Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project was awarded the Silver Medal in 2005 for Innovation and Excellence by the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships. Darren Fry is Business Manager of Integrated Gas Recovery Services Inc. in Thorold, Ontario. Contact Darren at dfry@walkerind.com. Michael Watt, P. Eng. is Vice President of Walker Environmental Group and Director of Integrated Gas Recovery Services Inc. in Thorold, Ontario. Contact Michael at mwatt@walkerind.com @ARTICLECATEORY:790;

BAYCON ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING Baycon Environmental offers personalized, responsive service, budget sensitive project solutions and years of invaluable project management experience. • Site Remediation • Site Services & Site Clearing • Mold Abatement • Asbestos Abatement

• Phase I, II, III env. assessments • Demolition • Licensed under M.O.E.E • Licensed under T.S.S.A

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42 www.solidwastemag.com April/May 2009 GREEYENWASTE/MC7562/SWR.indd 1

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12/11/10 10:02 AM

NEWS Bottled water ban first in Canada

By fall 2009, the University of Winnipeg expects to be bottled-water-free. In the highest voter turnout in years, three quarters of students voted to eliminate the sale of bottled water on campus. Instead, the university plans to fund upgrades to water infrastructure on campus, including the installation of water fountains in prominent areas in three new facilities. The University of Winnipeg Students’ Asso ciation also voted to stop buying and providing bottled water at student-led events and meetings. So far, 31 universities and colleges have established over 50 bottled-water-free zones. The University of Winnipeg is the first university in Canada to implement a campus-wide ban. For more news like this, subscribe to our affiliate environment news service www.ecolog.com

Glass recycling in Edmonton

Greys Recycling Ltd. is pleased to announce the commencement of waste glass recycling at its newest facility at the Edmonton Waste

Management Centre of Excellence at Clover Bar, Edmonton. Greys will accept all types of glass (clear, colored, mixed), however, the glass has to be free of hazardous material /

CWMA conference dates

The Coast Waste Management Association (CWMA) is pleased to announce “Rebuilding from the Waste Up,” the theme for this year’s conference to be held at the Westin Bear Mountain, Langford, BC, from October 21-23, 2009. The conference committee is busy putting together an extensive program of presenters and tours for delegates that will surpass last year’s event. As in previous years, there will be plenty of networking opportunities over the three day event. Please mark your calendars now and plan on attending this event.

Website to discourage incineration projects

A cancer prevention group has launched a new website to inform Canadians about the carcinogenic agents emitted by incinerators. Prevent Cancer Now (PCN) is hoping the website will educate and inspire Canadians to dissuade municipalities from adopting “energy-fromwaste” incineration technologies as a way of managing household waste. “Neither the politicians singing the praises of incineration, nor the consultants hired to lobby for or obtain approvals, are giving the public the information they need to assess the full impacts of incineration projects,” said Linda Gasser, PCN’s Incineration Campaign Coordinator. New incineration projects, also called gasification or pyrolysis, are currently being considered in Metro Vancouver, Red Deer, Ottawa, and the Southern Ontario regions of Durham and Port Hope. PCN is renewing its call on the federal government to phase-out and eliminate all known or suspected carcinogens in manufacturing and industrial processes, food production and consumer products. Visit http://preventcancernow.ca/main/ issues-actions/stop-incineration

Project1

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HMI

Page 1

Management Solutions

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CONSULTANT Operations Strategic Planning Procurement Project Management

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RFP & Bid Evaluations Cost Control Maintenance Programs Design & Layout

Helping Manage Industry April/May 2009 www.solidwastemag.com 43

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NEWS

radioactive coatings or material. All waste glass needs to be sorted and cannot be commingled with other waste streams. A tipping fee of approximately $47 per ton will be collected at the scales of the Edmonton Waste

Management Centre. Contact Heidi at 780-454-7397 x301.

Newfoundland and Labrador (N.L.) has shut its doors. The Winterton incinerator, which burned Newfoundland incinerator closure update approximately 1,800 tonnes of waste per year, An incinerator that served 2,600 residents in is the latest in a string of incinerator decommissionings across the province. Since January 2004, a Canada-wide Standard for Dioxins Leaders in Municipal, Planning & Environmental Law and Furans from Conical Waste Incinerators has committed to phasing out the facilities. For more information, contact: For some municipalities who said they could James Ayres not reach the December 31, 2008 deadline, the Certified by the Law Society of Upper government extended the date to June 2009. Canada as a Specialist in Municipal So far, the province has shut down 29 of its and Environmental Law incinerators with 23 left to close. 416 869 5967 or Bizcard ad HMMsept08gm1264 Cunningham.qxd 9/12/08 3:57 PM Page 1 “Every time an incinerator closes, it adjayres@casselsbrock.com www.casselsbrock.com vances the strategy on the Greater Avalon,” said Ken Kelly, chair of the Greater Avalon Waste Management Committee. As part of the Provincial Solid Waste CASSELS BROCK/MC7575/HMM.indd 1 1/22/09 11:30:21 AM Management Strategy, the province has reduced open burning on the Greater Avalon. The strategy calls for full-service regional waste management facilities in Avalon and Central and Western N.L. The Department of Municipal Affairs provided $70,000 to shut down the Winterton incinerator.

Ontario e-waste recycling program

Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES) has launched a program to divert 160,000 additional tonnes of electronics waste (e-waste) over the next five years. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) program includes a network of collection sites for consumers and businesses to drop off unwanted electronics. The electronics will be recycled according to North American environmental standards. The OES WEEE program handles fax machines and televisions as well as desktop and laptop computers, including monitors, desktop printers, mice, keyboards, and disk drives. Eventually, the program will expand to include cell phones, cameras and other electronics. Funding for the program comes entirely from fees paid by electronics’ brand owners, first importers in Ontario, and assemblers of the products designated in the first phase. Although 25,000 tonnes of electronics in Ontario are collected annually through public and private sector programs, OES Executive Director Carol Hochu said that too much ewaste still winds up in the garbage or shipped off to countries with unsafe health and environmental standards. Visit www.ontarioelectronicstewardship.ca

44 www.solidwastemag.com April/May 2009

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Advertisers’ Index Company

OWMA AD

Page #

Company

April/May 2009 Page #

ADL Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

IW Kuhn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

AET Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Laruin Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Aljon Mfg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Lafleche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

AMRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Machinex Recycling Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Avery Weightronix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Mack Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Bandag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Mercer Motor Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Battery Broker Environmental Services Inc. The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Metro Waste Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Baycon Environmental Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

mwin (Municipal Waste Integration Network) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Borden Ladner Gervais . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

OWMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Bulk Handling System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Canadian Waste & Recycling Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Paul van der Werf (2cg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Carrier Vibrating Equipment Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Pro-Tainer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Cassels Brock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

RBRC (Rechargable Battery Recycling Corporation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Continental Biomass Industries, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Recycling Equipment Company of Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Cunningham Gillespie LLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Samuel Strapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC

EMF Containers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Schyler Rubber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Environmental Business Consultants (John Nicolson) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Sebright Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Eriez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Sims Cab Depot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Golder Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Soft-Pak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

6/5/07 Greey enWaste .7:33 . . . . . . .AM . . . . . .Page . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Trux Route Management Systems Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Groundworx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Van Dyk Baler Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Harris Balers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Walinga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

HMI Management Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Walker Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Ontario Waste Management Association

Who’s standing up for Your Business? If you own or manage a private sector waste management company involved in any facet of solid or hazardous waste management – let us stand up for you …join OWMA today! OWMA has a primary mission to support a strong and viable waste service industry and to ensure that OWMA member companies are recognized as industry leaders.

Contact: Michele Goulding (905) 791-9500 www.owma.org April/May 2009 www.solidwastemag.com 45

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by Usman Valiante

BLOG

“Proposing a disposal levy in tough economic times is a challenge.”

A Proposed Waste Diversion Levy

tatistics Canada claims that Ontario’s IC&I waste diversion rate is 18 per cent. This statistic is somewhat underestimated in that it discounts on-site diversion by waste generators or wastes sent by major IC&I waste generators directly to materials processors. Despite these uncertainties, the rate is undeniably low and the province is seeking improvement. There are three primary reasons that provincial IC&I waste diversion rates are low. Firstly, price signals to IC&I generators are weak; the low cost of waste disposal and the relatively high costs of diversion provide generators with little incentive to divert waste. Additionally, the existing regulatory framework for IC&I waste diversion in Ontario is weakly enforced and not supported by a comprehensive promotion and education program targeted at IC&I generators. Finally, the waste service sector is not bound to meaningful environmental performance standards with regard to diversion services. As part of two ongoing public policy processes — the review of the Blue Box Program Plan (BBPP) and the review of the Waste Diversion Act 2002 — the Ontario government has asked for comment and suggestions on how to increase IC&I diversion. The BBPP has requested parties to consider, “…if, and how, the BBPP could be extended to include blue box wastes generated by the IC&I sector.” In response Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) has suggested that that IC&I wastes might be brought into the Blue Box Program Plan using an, “…incentive model or a fee-for-service model [that] could be utilized by stewards to increase collection and recycling of blue box wastes generated by the IC&I sector.” The implication of extending the blue box stewards’ mandate to include the IC&I sector is that Stewardship Ontario (SO) would responsible for providing blue box diversion services to all IC&I facilities across Ontario — a dramatic expansion of its monopoly power as IFO for residential blue box waste. Such an approach would eliminate the existing developed and competitive IC&I waste diversion service marketplace. The Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) argues against such an approach. The OWMA notes that the rationale for creating “systems of scale” for household packaging waste is understandable: a multitude of points of generation each generate small quantities of recyclable materials. It counters that such is not the case with regard to IC&I generators who generate larger quantities of blue box waste per location and can therefore be served effectively (and at much lower cost) by competing service providers. Additionally, the OWMA argues that the right price signals and information resources would cause many IC&I waste generators to demand products and packaging from suppliers that results in less waste in the first place (effectively “inducing” extended producer responsibility [EPR]). As an alternative to expanding the blue box monopoly the OWMA has proposed policy initiatives that build upon a Zero Waste Levy of $10/tonne applied to IC&I and C&D waste destined for disposal. The

proposed levy is similar to the one launched in New Zealand in 2008 under the Waste Minimization Act 2008. The levy is designed primarily to provide IC&I waste generators with an economic incentive for waste reduction (i.e., reduction through green procurement/induced EPR) and diversion (recycling) targeted at waste generators. Revenues from the levy would be accrued in a dedicated “Zero Waste Innovation Trust” with a mandate to increase IC&I waste diversion by: • Undertaking studies and R&D to inform green procurement practices (i.e., green procurement guidelines and life-cycle costing tools); • Providing technical and financial assistance to IC&I waste generators to adopt comprehensive waste prevention and green procurement practices; • Providing technical and financial assistance to IC&I waste generators to undertake waste reduction audits and work plans; • Undertaking compliance auditing of diversion service providers; • Funding dedicated environment ministry enforcement of its waste reduction/diversion regulations; • Funding scientific and economic policy research undertaken by the Ontario Ministry of Environment in support of its development of public policies regarding waste diversion; • Establishing a Financial Assurance Trust for underwriting the environmental liability associated with waste diversion and waste disposal facilities; • Generator grants to install source separation equipment, recycling chutes, etc.; and • Engage in communication, promotion, education and a waste diversion certification process for IC&I generators. With dramatically increased resources provided to small- and mediumsized businesses, the government could reasonably lower the deminimus IC&I regulatory threshold to require smaller businesses to conduct waste audits, prepare waste reduction work plans and implement diversion programs. Finally, the OWMA proposes a waste diversion service provider certification program which would involve meeting a performance standard or accreditation necessary to obtain a ministry-issued waste diversion System Certificate of Approval. Only approved and accredited waste diversion companies would be eligible to provide waste diversion services to IC&I waste generators in Ontario. Standards contained in the System C of A could include specific definitions of “recycling” for each waste category included in the certification, the ability to track material collection and diversion to final disposition, and adherence to Occupational Health and Safety standards and other approvals. The accreditation system would be under oversight of the Zero Waste Innovation Trust. Usman Valiante is principal of Corporate Policy Group in Orangeville, Ontario. Contact Usman at valiante@corporatepolicygroup.com @ARTICLECATEGORY:2243; 800;

46 www.solidwastemag.com April/May 2009

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