Mayor Tom Peckett from McNab Braeside presented a video on Sustane Technologies’ new plant opening in his municipality, and a request for the Township of Whitewater Region to support the plant by sending most of its landfill waste to be recycled.
“Our strategic plan speaks a lot to waste management.” CAO Rob Trembley said.
A video made by Sustane Tech showcased the plant, narrated Peter Vinall, president of Sustane Inc.
“Society’s waste is a massive problem.” he said. “We generally 2.20 billion tons of waste a year. By 2030, it’ll be 3 billion tons. It’s just a matter of time before they leak toxic leechate into our ground water.”
He said said Sustane was founded in 2014 uses a process to separate metals and biomatter and recycle a wide variety of materials, including used diapers and other plastics.
He said it can divert 90% of waste from municipal landfills, extending their lifespans.
“By eliminating the landfills, we eliminate a substantial source of greenhouse gases.” he said. “There are no leechates and emissions from our plants are extremely low.”
“We need a longterm contract to produce real results.”
He said that they combine proprietary technologies with ‘off-the-shelf’ technologies.
“We plan to move fast in order to
“I think the video says a lot about what Sustane is about. “Mayor Tom Peckett “We’re looking at the point. This plant costs about thirty million dollars, which Sustane pays for, which makes it look very inviting for anyone who has garbage to get rid of.”
He said he priced out an more traditional incineration plants at 220 million dollars.
He said he was planning to get rid of blue box pickup due to this new process.
“Currently we’re paying more for blue box pickup than for garbage pickup.” he said.
He also said the new process meant bag limits on garbage could be removed.
“You still need to have your landfill site for furniture and such, but what it will do is that if you send your garbage to McNab-Braeside, you’ll extend your landfill lifespan by decades. They take everything.”
“One of the things that blew my mind is used diapers.” he said. “I was at Tim Hortons, and I looked at my plate, and everything there, Sustane would recycle.”
“The good thing for the residents is that they don’t have to sort anything.” he said.
He said that the environmental impact would be considerable.
“it’s not incineration. It operates on pressure, on steam. I’ve been to the plant, I’ve seen it fully operational except for one machine. I saw someone had thrown a fifty foot stainless steel bar into their waste, and that jammed up the machine. There’s no noise, very little noise pollution. The very little waste it “
“They’re at the point that they need stock – garbage – for their work.”
He said he was also working with the county of Lanark, and that they were ‘behind us’ in support.
Councillor Dave Mackay asked what the number of people services where, and the cost for the Township.
Mayor Peckett said that there were 25 staff in the plant, they were looking to accommodate 150,000 residents, and that the township would pay a tipping fee, that would be “the same or less” than the current garbage tipping fees.
“Not everyone recycles, and those that do it don’t do it very well.” Mayor Peckett said. “We’ll take what they’re going to throw in their landfill, because we know that what they’re going to throw in their landfill is going to be full of useful material.”
Councillor Charlene Jackson asked.“In regards to single-use recycling, the province in doing away with that, and that’s going to the wayside, that’s eventually going to disappear. Is that going to affect the overall process?”
“I see now that you can get a paper straw. How they are working for ya.”
“Not good.” Councillor Dave Mackay said.
“And what about single use IV bags?” Mayor Peckett said. “There are so many single-use plastics out there. In my opinion, it would be impossible to ban single use plastics.”
He also said that the plant could process“all kitchen waste, which includes organics and those Keurig k-cups.”
“Once it’s up and running, your existing landfill can be mined if there’s plastic and recyclable in there, this plant can take that too.” he said. “I’m not doing this for my township. I’m doing it because I’m concerned about the garbage all over the planet, but especially locally.”
Councillor Charlene Jackson asked:“Is it just McNab-Braeside that will do the partnership, is Sustane going to own it or it will be township owned?”
“They’re going to build it on Landfill property, they’re going to lease the land from it, we have a weight scale they will rent from us, they will attend to the plant entirely. They make their profit from the tipping fee and from the recycling product. They make clean diesel there – the president has a diesel car he drives around. They were operate it, but we will own it.”
Councillor Neil Nicholson asked. “how long is that plant’s lifecycle for, and is that plant sustained or w
“They’re looking at a 20 year lifecycle, if the product is still there, and they have the stock of garbage still there to make a profit, they will be there. They can also alter it to make it bigger. They can make them to handle 400 tones, 600 tons. They’re in it for the long hail. They’re not going to close it up at 10 or 15 years. If the stock is there, they’ll be there.”
“The agreement would be between the township and Sustane?” Councillor Nicholson asked
“What will be coming out is a slightly altered MOU, it’s non-binding agreement.” Mayor Peckett said. “What I’m saying is that if they take municipal waste along with commercial waste, is it going to exceed their capacity.”
“If we got every speck of trash in Renfrew and in Lanark County, they would have more than enough to handle it. Even with the 200 a day plant, they design it to be able to expand it quite easily.” Peckett said. “I can’t see them 20 years down the line coming to whitewater and saying “we can’t take anymore garbage.”
“As the funding for the bluebox program changed. the province is changing the agreement to more producer pay. How will that translate into us using Sustane?” Councillor Nicholson asked.
“The blue box system has been almost dead for a number of years, and they keep bringing it back from its death.” Peckett said. “It wouldn’t effect Sustane. You talk about the manufacturers pay, but you know who will be paying for that?”
“Buyers” Nicholson answered
Mayor Peckett nodded. “They had 140 inquiries, they had to cut it down to 28.” he said. “They have a number of cities in Australia, they have plans in BC, they want to build the first plant in Ontario in Braeside.”
“I’ve never been a fan of blue boxes, a lot of it still ends up in our garbage.”
Nicholson then asked: “It will still require a separate type of pickup. How do we synchronize? It is going to be the same kind of miller?”
“Usually in our area, if you have brake shoes or stainless steel metal rods, you’re responsible to take it to the landfill, we don’t pick it up.”Peckett said. “Twice a year we do yard waste. If you got brake shoes or big containers of hazardous liquids it has to be taken to Renfrew, they have a disposal site for that.”
“I just see this as a win-win situation.” Reeve Cathy Regier said. “This will just be a benefit for all of Renfrew County, all of Lanark County and for the environment in general.”
“I’m kinda passionate about this one.” Mayor Peckett said. “We’ll get shovels in the ground And don’t forget the mining of the existing site. That’ll help down the road when you have to close the site. That would help the money for when you have to close the site.”
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin asked if the current plant in Nova Scotia is their only Canadian plant. And how long it was in operation.
Mayor Peckett said that the Nova Soctia plant was their headquarters. it was operating about a year or year in a half, with the last year operating ‘at full capacity’.
He asked where the money came from, and Mayor Peckett said that it was all funded by Sustane itself and its investors.
“I can’t get it through my thick head why everyone isn’t jumping on this, because there’s no incineration and no chemicals.”
“We’re never going to get anymore landfill.” Councillor McLaughlin said. “This sounds like a win-win.”
Mayor Peckett said the provincial government “jumped on it”.
Mayor Moore asked. “Is there a proposed date for when operations start?”
“As soon as we confirm up that we will have enough stock. That doesn’t mean 200 tons a day, to get started we get 80 tons or 100 tons a day, until I can confirm when the other counties would ship garbage.
“is there anyway we could stockpile garbage in preparation?” Reeve Regier asked.
“I’m not sure if the Ministry of Environment would let you stockpile garbage for that.” Mayor Peckett warned.
“I was thinking more along the lines of plastic garbage.” she corrected.
“In terms of next steps and Mayor Peckett has said, they will send out an MoU and we will respond to that.” CAO Trembley said
Roads Department Manager Lane Cleroux asked:“Have yourself or Sustane talked about getting around the blue box program, that any settlement with must have a blue box program.”
“I understand that, but if I can save 15-16 thousand dollars by eliminated, I don’t actually care.” Mayor Pecket said. “I don’t see them objecting – I just plan to take what would go in a blue box and put in a green box. I’m going to stop having them, it’s too expensive to do . It’s certainly a good question, and maybe I’ll get my knuckles rapped, but I don’t really care. They say they give me money for the blue box, give me the money for the new recycling.”
“A lot of municipalities don’t pay any tipping fees to the landfill.” Manager Cleroux said. “If we did switch to this, we’d have to play a tipping fee. Really, it should be paying for the tipping fees going forward, it’s a change for each municipality.”
Mayor Peckett “So currently if you’re sending your recycle going to Ottawa Valley waste, we still want the green waste going to the landfill.”
Manager Cleroux said that the municipality would need time “to change that and prepare a budget.” regarding tipping fees.
“Some of those technical questions will go to Lane, or [Superintendent Steve Hodson] Lane who was heavily involved in Renfrew operations, but those would have to be worked out. We don’t charge ourselves back for the tipping fee. Those kinds of technical details will come back with the MoU. This is the intro of what it is to call. Steve and Lane will follow up with colleagues in other municipalities.
Mayor Peckett thanked the township for allowing him here and allowing him to speak beyond 10-15 minutes
“Garbage has been a hot topic around here since the 1970s.” Mayor Moore said. “When they closed the Beachburg Dump, the world was going to end.”
