The Composting Council of Canada is a forum to advance the use of composting to government, industry and the public as a means of reducing Canada’s waste stream while reclaiming the organic fraction for beneficial purposes. Council efforts focus on information and communication, representation on expert multi-stakeholder committees of impact to the development of the composting industry and coordination of research initiatives. The Council’s membership encompasses representation from all levels of government, industry (organic waste generators, compost system manufacturers and designers, facility operators, compost marketers) and academia.

Upcoming events of importance to the composting industry in Canada are:

National Composting Awareness Week (April 29 - May 5, 2001)

National Composting Conference and Exhibits (November 14 - 16, 2001; Montreal).

 The City of Toronto is embarking on the implementation of a small-scale facility for the processing of mixed waste and organic material.
 Scheduled for start-up in early 2000, the facility is the result of an extensive review of diversion options available to manage Toronto’s waste stream. The selected direction reflects Toronto’s objective of a 50% diversion from single and multi-family households (apartments) and commercial locations.
 The small-scale facility, to be located at the Dufferin Transfer Station (one of seven transfer stations operated by Toronto), will be built to test a number of waste management approaches including:

the processing of mixed waste from apartment buildings and commercial locations;

the separate collection and processing of food and yard waste generated by single family households and commercial locations; and

the separate collection and processing of “wet” waste (including kitchen scraps, napkins, diapers, etc.) from a residential wet/dry collection system.

 The first year of operation will be a trial period to enable the city to make decisions on the future roles of mixed waste processing and composting, and make any necessary changes before further facility expansion. If successful, it may be expanded to accommodate up to 100,000 tonnes per year of mixed waste or up to 165,000 tonnes per year of organic material.
 Toronto Waste Recovery Limited was selected by Toronto as the facility’s proponents. The main feature of the facility is the BTA-Process, a German technology that uses anaerobic digestion as the process. The following provides details on the players and operation to be undertaken.

 The Principals

Canada Composting Inc. (CCI) and Stone & Webster Canada Limited (SWCL) have established Toronto Waste Recovery Limited (TWRL) as a joint venture company to provide the mixed waste recycling and organics processing demonstration facility for the City of Toronto.

CCI is a Canadian owned, privately held company located in Newmarket, Ontario. It has the exclusive license throughout Canada and the United for the BTA-Process. CCI is focused on providing centralized waste processing facilities throughout North America, utilizing the BTA-Process as the nucleus of each plant.

SWCL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation, a full service engineering company with over 7,000 employees worldwide and headquarters in New York City.

Together, CCI and SWCL are spearheading a number of BTA plant opportunities including the one for the City of Toronto and a 180,000 annual tonne plant in Newmarket, Ontario (expected to open in late 1999).

The Partners

Lining up with the two principals of Toronto Waste Recovery Limited (TWRL) are a number of sub-contractors with specific roles and responsibilities. They include:
 
 

 

Operating Overview

Materials entering the facility will be released onto the tipping floor. An extended boom loader then moves the waste from the tipping floor to a conveyor belt that transports the material to a pre-sort station. From there, the City of Toronto facility will have four distinct operating phases:

Phase One consists of a series of pre-processing activities to remove recyclable and non-recyclable inorganic elements from the incoming material. Activities will include a pre-sorting station for oversized residue, a trommel for debagging and waste screening, a series of manual sorting stations to sort PET, HDPE, whole glass containers and textiles as well as automated separators designed to extract ferrous metals and aluminum cans. Marketable materials will be sent for recycling while non-recyclables will be landfilled.

Phase Two involves the BTA Pre-Treatment Process. Following pre-processing, the remaining material is predominantly biodegradable but still contains some inorganics. In a fully enclosed, computer controlled processing environment, the materials are fed into a hydropulper, designed to separate the remaining inorganics from the biodegradable elements and to convert the organics into an organic suspension.

The inorganic elements fall into one of two categories: light and heavy fraction. The light fraction, removed via a hydraulic rake attached to the hydropulper, consists of any plastics or textiles not previously removed. The heavy fraction consists of glass, tin cans, ceramics, etc., captured through a sieve at the base of the hydropulper.

Phase Three is the BTA anaerobic digestion process. The biodegradable organic elements that were defibred and converted into an organic slurry during the hydropulping phase are pumped from the hydropulper to a grit removal system to further remove any of the unwanted matter that may have escaped through the hydropulper sieve. The grit-free suspension is then pumped to the anaerobic digester where the digestible material is converted into methane-rich biogas and the non-digestible material into compost.

Phase Four is the end product refinement stage for the compost. The compost will be sent out for final curing and bagging. The biogas will be fed into an on-site cogeneration facility to produce electricity and heat for use by the plant and others.
 
 
 

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