By Catherine Thompson - AgriNews Staff Writer

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MOOSE CREEK-After visiting Amsterdam in 1987, André Laflèche was inspired by a visit to a high technology waste facility, and came back to Canada to share his vision with people in the management business.

�-�We saw greenhouses that were heated with energy pellets that were produced from waste. We said, we needed to go there in Ontario or in Canada, but our ways of consuming were totally different. We had to start with a landfill,�-� the founder, past president and chair of Laflèche Environmental Inc.(LEI) told well-wishers during the opening of a huge new composting facility in Moose Creek in North Stormont Township on Fri., May 22. �-�The landfill is the backbone to it all. At the end, we wanted it to be the last landfill in Eastern Ontario and to this we need to work toward diversion.�-�

Laflèche had bought 500 acres of land near Moose Creek, which he promoted as the site of a landfill facility, sold to BFI in 1990 and bought back in 1996.

By 1997, with the help of an expert team, he had established Laflèche Environmental Inc., which received a certificate of approval in 1999 and its first shipment in January 2001. Since then the company and its processes have come a long way.

Bioreactor landfill

This was no ordinary landfill site, as it was based on bioreactor principles, including accelerated decomposition to maximize the generation of biogas for future electricity generation.

An application to the Ontario Power Authority awaits approval to start cogeneration of electricity, possibly this June. In five to six months, the bioreactor could produce three Mw of electricity and 10 Mw in phase 2. Future plans are to direct waste heat to greenhouses for cultivating vegetables and fish.

Since it opened, new developments include waste water treatment, contaminated soil remediation and tire recycling with the production of rubber chips for use in the bioreactor�-�s leachate drainage system, road construction or sale as fuel.

The addition of the composter is just one more step toward achieving Laflèche�-�s vision of reusing the majority of otherwise wasted materials, and sending a minimum to landfill.

Constructed on a 52,000 square foot concrete slab and enclosed by a massive fabric shelter, the structure is separated into three parts, including a receiving and channel loading area, composting channels and an output area.

The composter can receive non-hazardous materials like food scraps, food processing, bio-solids, paper/cardboard, leaf and yard waste, green waste and other organic materials.

Materials are first dumped on the tipping floor for a visual inspection and then mixed in an industrial grade mixer for a homogeneous blend, with proper carbon to nitrogen ratio and moisture content.

They are sent to the active composting area, where the process takes place in an agitated tunnel with forced aeration over 21 to 28 days. Then the material undergoes a curing phase before re-use.

The composter can handle up to 50,000 tonnes of raw material annually, with 60 per cent wet and 40 per cent bulking agent. During the process, the size is reduced by about 40 per cent.

Operating shortly

Only a couple of steps are needed before the composter is up and operating. For example, a turner inside the facility needs to be commissioned.

�-�We have to walk before we can run. We expect to be in full operation in about 12-14 months,�-� says LEI organics manager Geoffroy Laflèche.

He explains his big challenge in the next 12 months will be to secure compost materials from sources like restaurants and hotels and municipal leaf and yard waste. A tipping fee will apply and the final product will be for sale.

Geoffroy Laflèche adds farmers are interested in using compost, given the high price of fertilizer. �-�But I don�-�t see the day when farmers will pay to take their organics, when they can spread it on their fields. They may be interested in a trade.�-�

The composting facility has benefited from $1.8-million in federal and provincial grants that were approved in 2007, and received on completion of a schedule that included the end of construction on March 31.

Also, at LEI, a facility for recycling electronic waste is awaiting a certificate of approval before going into action. And it is hoped that the tire recycling operation will add a granulation process, to create a high-end finished product such as arena mats, for the first time in Ontario. But a volume of 40,000 tonnes annually is needed to justify the additional equipment.

Ministerial praise

In praising the team for their ambitious endeavour, Ontario Minister of the Environment John Gerretsen said, �-�I�-�m convinced your vision is the right one. There is value in energy in everything, whether it�-�s a paper cup, whether it�-�s composting that comes into this facility, or whether it�-�s any of the products that are being produced.�-�

He referred to the ministry�-�s discussion paper, �-�Towards Zero Waste�-� and the Green Energy Act, to encourage the use of energy from renewable sources.

�-�Within the Ministry of Environment, I can think of many situations where if they had done the environmentally right thing 20 or 30 years ago, the clean-up costs that we currently are involved in would be a tenth the costs of what you and I are actually paying, whether it�-�s the proper disposal of PCBs in the London area, the stockpiling of tires in places like Melbourne and other places that is costing millions and millions of dollars.�-�

Gerretsen referred to operations where computers and televisions are taken apart, to salvage components that are reusable in manufacturing and to tire recycling where rubber is salvaged for use in new floors, roof tiles and durable road construction.

�-�All these materials could be properly recycled, so one day we can truly have a world where it is possible to not have any waste. Everything is of value.�-�

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