Work continues on the infrastructure for a new waste diversion facility, the first of its kind in northwestern Ontario, which will initially process up to 30,000 tons of organic waste a year.<\/p>\n
Eco Depot Waste Diversion is building a Category A composting operation at a site on the Twin City Crossroads in Oliver-Paipoonge.<\/p>\n
It will accept a wide variety of material from multiple waste streams including residential, commercial, institutional and industrial: \u00a0food waste, plant matter, brewery and winery waste,\u00a0paper fibres, and pre- and post-consumer organic waste from residents, restaurants and businesses in Thunder Bay and surrounding communities.<\/p>\n
The company had hoped to be in operation by this point, but spokesperson Samantha Rizzo told tbnewswatch.com that the business now expects to be able to accept waste by the spring of 2018, and to have finished compost ready about six or seven months later.<\/p>\n
Eco Depot’s compost will be suitable for\u00a0different\u00a0commercial and\u00a0consumer applications including gardening, lawns, bioremediation and erosion control.<\/p>\n
Rizzo said the company has also looked into. and\u00a0is permitted to accept, bio-solids, or sewage sludge. “Although we may not use those initially, they are part of a potential recipe. It’s a waste that would otherwise have lost nutrients if disposed of in the traditional way, but if we used it, those nutrients would go into the compost,” she explained.<\/p>\n
The company’s plans have generated considerable interest in the community, Rizzo said.<\/p>\n
“We get a lot of phone calls from people wondering when they can start dropping off their waste. I know Thunder Bay is certainly eager to have it up and running.”<\/p>\n
She said with the Waste-Free Ontario strategy coming to fruition, “There’s going to be a lot more push from the public, I think, to have things like this.”<\/p>\n
Company will benefit from Ontario’s push for more diversion<\/b><\/p>\n
According to the government, each person in the province currently produces an average of over 850 kilos of waste a year.<\/p>\n
Ontario recycles about 25 per cent of its waste, leaving over eight million tonnes of material going to landfills annually. The situation has not improved over the past decade, but there’s a strategy to improve the diversion rate to 30 per cent by 2020 and 50 per cent by 2030.<\/p>\n
With respect to re-using\u00a0food waste, Eco Depot plans to\u00a0focus on the larger waste generators in Thunder Bay, including hospitals and school boards, thereby “pulling generous amounts of waste out of the landfill,” Rizzo said.<\/p>\n