Statement made on 06 October 2010 by Senator Tommy Banks (retired)
Hon. Tommy Banks:
Honourable senators, I have some good news I want to share with you. I am proud to tell you that my city, the city of Edmonton, is not merely the Canadian leader and the North American leader, but the global leader in effective urban waste management. The Edmonton Waste Management Centre is the largest such operation and the most inclusive such operation in the entire world.
Edmonton initiated its curbside recycling program in 1988, and it presently diverts more than 60 per cent of its residential waste from landfill. The goal is to reach 90 per cent by 2012 — and they will make it because on Tuesday, August 31, the City of Edmonton took another innovative and very large step in beginning construction of the world's first industrial-scale municipal waste-to-biofuels facility.
Mayor Stephen Mandel said that the facility will be operational by late-2011 and it will produce 36 million litres of biofuels every year. It will help to reduce Alberta's environmental footprint by 6 million tonnes over the next 25 years, which is the equivalent of taking about 42,000 cars from the roads every year.
Montreal-based Enerkem Alberta Biofuels invested $70 million in the project, and will build, own and operate it.
The project will convert 100,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste that cannot otherwise be recycled or composted and which would, in most places, be sent to a landfill. Instead, this Canadian-developed technology will convert waste into usable motor fuels.
The Government of Alberta contributed $33 million to the initiative and awarded a further $7.5 million by way of a grant to allow Enerkem to move residual heat from the biofuels plant to the community energy system in Strathcona County. That energy will be used instead of natural gas to fuel hot water boilers to deliver heat to 1,600 homes and businesses.
Edmonton, Alberta, continues to lead the world in innovative waste management and in the conversion of waste to good and environmentally valuable purposes.