City of Lethbridge opens organics processing facility; green cart rollout nears completion

LETHBRIDGE -

With distribution of its green bins almost complete, the City of Lethbridge is firing up its new organics processing facility.

Starting Tuesday, leftover food, grass clippings and even pizza boxes will be diverted to the facility.

"We look forward to being able to divert much more waste from the landfill and reaching our waste diversion targets, to continue to advance the sustainability of our community for years to come," said Joel Sanchez, director of infrastructure services with the City of Lethbridge.

The $10.6-million project, located at the city's waste and recycling centre, will help the city reach its goal of diverting 65 per cent of household waste from the landfill by 2030.

"Right now, we're anticipating 13,000 tonnes of compost per year produced when we're at full production," said Steve Rozee, processing manager with the City of Lethbridge's waste and environment department.

The $10.6-million project, located at the city's waste and recycling centre, will help the city reach its goal of diverting 65 per cent of household waste from the landfill by 2030.

It'll take about 44 days to turn the household organics into high-quality compost.

When the material arrives at the facility, it's shredded, mixed and sits in a series of open-air bunkers.

"On the basis of being able to take 20,000 tonnes a year out of the landfill, that's basically one-fifth of what we dispose of today," Rozee said.

"So, essentially, you could increase the life-span, simple math, a minimum of 20 per cent."

The high-quality compost will be available for residents to pick up for home use and it'll be used in city parks and gardens and sold to agricultural partners for commercial use.

The Government of Canada provided $5,879,000 from the Canada community-building fund for the construction of the year-round facility.

The Government of Alberta provided $4,750,000 from the municipal sustainability initiative to support the curbside organics program.

"These landfills are not cheap and you never know what's going to come over when it comes to decisions made by the government ... this is something we were proactive on," said Mayor Blaine Hyggen.

The $10.6-million project, located at the city's waste and recycling centre, will help the city reach its goal of diverting 65 per cent of household waste from the landfill by 2030.

The new facility brings Lethbridge in line with other communities such as Calgary, Taber and Coaldale that already offer curbside organic collection.

"We have some extra (additions) that not every facility has that allow us to provide a more rounded suite of services. This is a very modern, high-tech, well-designed facility and we're going to use it to its maximum potential," Rozee said.

Sanchez says he’s pleased with the final product.

"The facility was built on time and on budget," he said.

"We still have what we call the contingency for some fix but by the end of the project, we're going to be either on budget or slightly under budget."

All green carts will be delivered by May 12, with the first city-wide rollout set for May 16.