The United Nations and other global organizations have recognized emissions from food and other organic wastes as a leading contributor to unacceptable levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the environment. Over the past decade, the City of Toronto has emerged as a global leader in using innovative technologies and solutions for addressing this challenge, investing in state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion facilities.
Veolia Canada has been awarded a contract to assume operations and maintenance of the City of Toronto’s Dufferin organics processing facility. Since 2014, Veolia has also operated and maintained Toronto’s other anaerobic digestion facility at Disco Road, and now will have responsibility for operating and maintaining Dufferin as well.
These facilities use pre-processing and anaerobic digestion technology to break down organic material such as residential source-separated food waste. The waste is used to produce digester solids which are used to create high quality compost and biogas. The city then turns the compost and biogas into renewable natural gas to help fuel its fleet and heat its buildings, thereby reducing GHG emissions by approximately 22,000 tonnes per year.
While the Disco Road facility has a capacity to manage up to 75,000 tonnes of organic waste per year, the Dufferin facility is designed to convert as much as 55,000 tonnes of organic waste into energy annually — waste that would otherwise pose a risk of increasing GHG emissions if left in a landfill.
“Veolia Canada is proud to continue collaborating with the City of Toronto on a shared vision for addressing the environmental challenge of managing organic waste safely and sustainably,” said Veolia Canada CEO and Country Director Denis Chesseron. “Our resources and expertise in managing anaerobic digestion operations are driven by Veolia’s GreenUp strategy for growth and sustainability, ensuring a cleaner world for future generations.”
In addition to the City of Toronto’s anaerobic digestion facilities, Veolia Canada operates the City of Edmonton’s anaerobic digestion facility and the City of Montreal’s in-vessel composting operation. The company is also in the process of commissioning a new anaerobic digestion facility for the City of Montreal.
Featured image credit: Veolia
