The Region of Durham Council has taken the next step toward constructing a new mixed-waste pre-sort and anaerobic digestion (AD) facility in Durham.

Council gave approval on May 27 to continue negotiations of a joint venture/co-ownership agreement with Epcor Utilities Inc. for development of the facility.

Construction details are not yet available, nor is the project budget. It’s expected that the region will select a contractor to perform the work in 2021 and begin construction in 2022. Completion is targeted for 2024.

The facility, which will be sited next to the Durham York Energy Centre (DYEC) in the city’s Energy Park, will be the first fully integrated waste-management facility in North America. It will convert food scraps into renewable natural gas, and use residuals to generate electricity. The proposed process will also be odour and emissions free.

“This will be a one-of-a-kind facility, combining anaerobic digestion onsite with mixed waste pre-sorting, and will highlight the environmental leadership underway in Durham Region as we become the first in North America to build a facility like this,” said commissioner of works Susan Siopis. “The pre-sort facility will not replace or eliminate the current green bin program, instead, it will complement it by capturing from the garbage any organics the green bin did not capture.”

The need for the facility comes at a time when Durham Region is growing. The local population is expected to exceed one million in the next 10 years. More residents means more garbage to manage. The region’s current composting and garbage facilities at capacity. The new facility will help meet the increasing waste management demands and will reduce the quantity of garbage to be processes at the DYEC.

The new facility will accept waste from Durham Region only, and delay the need to expand the DYEC facility.

“The mixed waste pre-sort facility will increase our 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,” said regional chair and CEO John Henry.

Removing organics from the garbage is a key waste diversion strategy in Durham Region and has helped to achieve better than 50 percent diversion. Council set a target of 70 percent diversion in 2008; in 2018, its diversion rate was 64 percent.