The RDN is tracking whether new technology in Atlantic Canada can be applied locally. File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW.

By Ian Holmes

One man's trash

RDN commits to studying new waste diversion tech

May 9, 2019 | 5:18 PM

NANAIMO — New technology aimed at preventing trash from piling up at the landfill is being eyed as a way to ease a local waste burden.

The Regional District of Nanaimo recently entered a regional initiative to monitor a new waste diversion facility in Nova Scotia.

Larry Gardner, the RDN’s manager of solid waste, said the cutting-edge technology is designed to convert some landfill-destined trash into biomass pellets and diesel fuel.

“They’re taking the bagged waste that would otherwise go to the landfill, they run it through their process and those are the end products out of it,” Gardner said.

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A RDN staff report outlined a deal struck between Sustane Technology Inc. and the municipality of Chester, Nova Scotia to divert the community’s garbage to the company’s facility.

Gardner said the Nova Scotia-based plant is on track to open next month.

The RDN, Comox Strathcona and Cowichan Valley Regional districts chipped in a total of $20,000 for a year-long monitoring study, which will track costs and performance of the waste diverting operation.

Gardner compared the technology to where the electrical vehicle market was several years ago.

“They’re slow to get started and then as some of the challenges are overcome it becomes much more mainstream,” Gardner told NanaimoNewsNOW.

“It’s no different with waste management, we need to continue to look for that better mouse trap because it’s out there.”_{Larry Gardner}

Gardner said while landfilling garbage is the cheapest option, it doesn’t align with the RDN’s goal to divert more garbage from the dump.

He estimated the current waste diversion rate between Cedar and Bowser sits at 65 per cent.

The RDN’s Solid Waste Management Plan aims to keep 90 per cent of post-use items out of the Cedar landfill by 2027. New programs will be required to meet the lofty target.

In 2017 the B.C. Government reported the Cowichan Valley and Nanaimo regional districts registered the second and third least amounts of landfilled waste respectively in the entire province.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com
On Twitter: @NanaimoNewsNOW