A scale model of the new facility, now operating at Duke Point, which cuts the processing time of local organic waste from eight months to two weeks. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

GREEN WASTE

VIDEO: Upgraded Nanaimo organics facility ‘keeping the bugs happy’, cuts compost time from months to days

Aug 29, 2022 | 1:16 PM

NANAIMO — It’s the largest such facility on Vancouver Island, one of just four across Canada and it’s processing organic waste faster than ever before.

Convertus, in partnership with the City and Regional District of Nanaimo, officially unveiled their new organic waste processing techniques at their Duke Point facility, during an event on Monday, Aug. 29.

Michael Leopold, CEO of Convertus, said in the past it would take them between six and eight months to break down batches of green waste through different windrows in the open. With these upgrades courtesy of Dutch technology, timelines are much shorter.

“Tunnels allow us to take that same organic waste and we process it in 15 days. It goes into these tunnels, it gets sealed up and basically what we’re doing is keeping the bugs happy.”

Making an impact

Nanaimo woman publishes books to open awareness of neurodiverse children

11h ago

iconic voice

Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole, a welcome voice for a half-century, dead at 90

18h ago

first response

New staffing model on Gabriola Island hires local paramedics for enhanced patient care

23h ago

Green waste is fed into sealed tunnels, the conditions of which can be more easily controlled. Air is added inside and moisture controlled to allow for optimal conditions for material to break down.

Once the process is complete, the end product goes through a screener with roughly 15 to 20 per cent taken out as compost.

A small amount of garbage, less than five per cent, is skimmed off the top and the remainder which is already partially broken down gets mixed back in with fresh green waste for another cycle.

The former process. Windrows of organic waste were left to naturally break down over a period of months, instead of weeks with the new tunnel system. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Originally able to handle around 20,000 tonnes of material, the addition of the new tunnel technology has nearly tripled capacity.

“It’s really the organic composting for the next generation of Vancouver Island,” Leopold said.

A bulk of the compost is then sold off to major commercial developments for landscaping needs.

Ben Geselbracht, chair of the RDN’s solid waste select committee, told NanaimoNewsNOW the facility is a game changer for how waste is handled locally.

“It allows us to process much more organics, produces a great soil and helps reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. This facility is going to be really critical in allowing us to meet our 90 per cent diversion goal from landfill, and the City’s committed to eliminating all organic waste from landfill by 2030.”

In addition to curbside collection, yard waste and other industrial organics sources will also find their way to processing, rather than being added to landfill in order to breakdown.

From start to finish. Organics on the left are processed over the course of two weeks into usable compost for soil. The process would typically take months. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Geselbracht said moving it away from the landfill not only decomposes it quicker, but it’s much cleaner for the environment.

“It allows it to have a lot more oxygen in the process. In a landfill, you’ll get decomposition without oxygen and it actually produces methane which is a really bad greenhouse gas.”

He said having these efficiencies will not only easily handle local collections, but enable the City and Regional District to process green waste from other regions as well and turn it into a revenue generator.

Similar facilities are located in Surrey, as well as in Ottawa and London, ON.

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your email inbox every evening

info@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @Nanaimonewsnow