Waste Connections Canada is building a $50 million facility in Chatham-Kent to produce renewable natural gas from decomposing waste at the Ridge Landfill in Blenheim and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The clean energy project is expected to be enough to heat 40 per cent of the homes in Chatham-Kent and will create more than 50 construction and skilled jobs.
Landfill Project Manager Cathy Smith said the new plant will help Waste Connections lower its carbon footprint and fuel its fleet of nearly 300 trucks nationwide.
“This is one in a number of projects that Waste Connections is undertaking in order to achieve its own internal greenhouse gas emission reduction credits,” said Smith.
Vice President of Enbridge Gas Jim Redford said the average gas bill for consumers won’t be lower because renewable natural gas (RNG) is a little more expensive to produce.
“This tremendous made in Ontario opportunity that RNG presents will divert emissions and enable the continued provision of affordable, reliable, safe, and clean energy for Ontario’s increasing energy needs all while stimulating economic growth,” Redford said.
Mayor Darrin Canniff said it’s a significant investment in the municipality.
“What not to like about this project when you can take something that’s going up into the air and make that into energy that we can use. This is one of the top projects ever I think in Chatham-Kent,” the mayor said.
Smith said Waste Connection is a leader in this area and has eight of these facilities in North America, adding this is the first in Ontario.
Construction will start in a year, if approved by the Ontario Energy Board, and the green energy plant should be finished by the end of 2023.
A compression system will convert landfill gas into renewable natural gas and a pipeline will inject the clean gas into the local distribution system.
Ontario plans to phase out emissions from landfills by 2030 and the project is expected to reduce over 110,000 tonnes of emissions a year.
Minister of the Environment David Piccini was in Blenheim for the announcement on Thursday afternoon and said no provincial incentives are planned to bring more of these facilities to the province. Minister Piccini said the best the government can do right now is make it easier for the private sector to build the RNG plants and get out of the way.
“Projects like the Waste Connections of Canada’s landfill gas to renewable natural gas facility in Chatham-Kent helps our government reduce Ontario’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and helps us reach our 2030 climate goals. Reducing the environmental impacts of waste has been a top priority for our government. Being able to reduce GHG emissions by 110,000 tonnes, create nearly 50 jobs, while producing enough green energy annually to heat over 18,000 Ontario homes, is a testament to the end-of-life destinations available for GHG producing waste,” Piccini said.
