The city of Calgary has chosen the site for the future municipal compost facility. After investigating the merits of 38 locations in and around Calgary, the committee on Utilities and Corporate Services recommended the facility be built within the Shepard landfill, east of 68 Street SE. Council approved the site on July 16.

Calgary city council wants to drastically decrease the amount of garbage sent to the dump, with a plan to divert 80 per cent of Calgary’s waste from landfills by 2020. Compostable food and yard waste accounts for roughly 60 per cent of the refuse produced by single-family residences, so a facility capable of processing it on a large scale is expected to account for most of the waste diverted from traditional landfills.

The Organics Facility Program manager, Jim Miller, says his team must now study whether the project will be built by the city or private contractors, and apply for approval from Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.

“The program would unfold, if it all went according to schedule, in late 2016,” says Miller.

The initial facility will be able to process between 50,000 and 100,000 tonnes of waste per year. The resulting compost will then be sent primarily to the agricultural market.

The Shepard landfill is situated relatively close to residential communities, so the Utilities and Corporate Services committee paid special attention to the question of how the inevitable odour from the plant will be reduced. This will be achieved with acid scrubbers, biofilters and dispersal stacks.