Regional council approves next steps for Anaerobic Digester

By Courtney Bachar/The Oshawa Express/LJI Reporter

Durham Region is one step closer to getting an anaerobic digester.

At its most recent meeting, Durham council approved Clarington as the preferred site for a Mixed Waste Pre-sort (MWP) and Anaerobic Digester (AD) facility, and also approved regional staff to move forward with negotiations for a joint venture co-ownership partnership of the facility.

The region is looking at entering into a joint venture partnership with Epcor Utilities Inc., a wholly owned corporation of the City of Edmonton, for the development of the region’s MWP and AD facilities, which would be a “first-of-its-kind fully integrated waste management initiative in North America,” according to the region. The system converts green bin waste and organics into renewable natural gas and will use the residuals to generate electrical energy that can be used in a variety of applications.

“There is a net present benefit of the joint venture to the region,” says Gary Muller, director of planning for Durham Region, which he notes arises primarily from the benefits of risk sharing, as well as the expertise Epcor brings to the table for the project.

While council ultimately voted in favour of the recommendation, several attempts were made by councillors to split the items in the recommendation to vote on the joint venture partnership and preferred site recommendation separately, all of which were defeated leaving the original recommendation on the table.

“Keeping the items on the table forces some that may have supported the site but don’t support the joint venture to vote no,” says Oshawa Ward 5 Regional Councillor Brian Nicholson, adding he has “great hesitation” to support the joint venture process.

Council also heard from several delegations during the meeting, including Clarington resident Kerry Meydam, who says councillors need to understand the risks they’re taking by entering into a joint partnership, noting the uncertainties with the current COVID-19 pandemic as a factor.

“This [recommendation] would grant staff the authority to move ahead and make limited decisions on a project that has very high risks to both the region and taxpayers with unknown future moves by the province and an unchartered future due to the unanswered questions surrounding the pandemic,” says Meydam.

As part of the recommendation, council also approved Clarington as the preferred site for the new facility at the Energy Park, next to the Durham-York Energy Centre (DYEC).

“We were able to optimize this site because of its location – we can take advantage of the existing scale house, existing roadway, and it is the best site from the environmental perspective. It already has a lot of the upgraded requirements for this type of facility,” says Gioseph Anello, manager of waste planning and technical services for Durham.

Many councillors and residents raised concern with Clarington as the proposed site for the project.

“I am disappointed, but not surprised. Clarington is now the dumping ground for all waste from the Region of Durham,” says Clarington Councillor Granville Anderson.

Oshawa Ward 2 Regional Councillor Tito-Dante Marimpietri says while he “sympathizes greatly with Clarington,” he notes there is a “clear and definitive synergy with what is being proposed on the Clarington site.”

The region also expects the population to grow to more than 1 million people in the next decade.

According to the region, the new mixed waste pre-sort and anaerobic digester facilities, which will only accept waste from Durham Region, will remove non-combustible material and recyclables to further increase diversion from landfill and extend the life of the DYEC.

“This is an exciting project for Durham Region. Anaerobic digestion has many environmental benefits that contribute to Durham’s climate change mitigation initiatives and allows us to continue to treat waste as a resource to generate energy,” says Regional Chair John Henry, adding the pre-sort facility will increase diversion rates by capturing items that should not have been placed in the garbage, while at the same time processing food scraps into energy and fertilizer products.

“It’s an initiative that continues to solidify our position as an environmental leader,” Henry adds.

Council also approved for staff to move forward with the request for prequalification and selection of a preferred Design, Build, Operate and Maintain (DBOM) vendor team.

“Each of these recommendations provide the necessary steps to meet the goals of having this new facility up and running by 2024,” says Commissioner of Works Susan Siopis.

Regional staff are aiming to come back to council with an update at the September 2020 regional council meeting.