A company in Richmond, B.C., that transforms kitchen scraps into high-quality compost is hoping to cash in on our energy-hungry society – and turn that organic waste into valuable fuel.
Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre is one of the biggest composting facilities in North America – it's also one of the most ambitious.
By next year, the company wants to turn organic waste into natural gas and electricity. It could be the first facility of its kind in North America.
"There's a lot of potential in organic matter," Steve Aujla said.
The process, called anaerobic digestion, captures methane and carbon dioxide from organic waste so that bio gas can be used as fuel to produce electricity or cleaned to become natural gas.
The energy could be used to power vehicles – or sold.
"Someone's trash is someone's treasure so we have to just change our mindset and see it as a resource instead of just trash," Aujla said.
The $10-million, privately built plant begins construction this summer. The model of turning organic waste into energy has been proven in about 100 European facilities.
And the Richmond plant could be a showcase for North America.
"We need more organic waste. We need to divert more from the landfill," Aujla said.
Metro Vancouver is already planning to build an anaerobic digestion facility in Surrey.
Meanwhile, environmentalists say it's about time Metro Vancouver bans organics from the landfill. They make up about a quarter of our garbage and produce greenhouse gas emissions. Staff told CTV in about two years all municipalities should be collecting organic waste and that's when a ban would be in place.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Mi-Jung Lee
