Construction/Building — October 5, 2011

Maple Reinders Completes State-of-the-Art Organic Waste Processing Facility for the City of Guelph

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Oct. 5, 2011 /CNW/ - The City of Guelph has been at the forefront of municipal organic waste composting for over two decades. However, five years after the original plant closed due to structural concerns, the Maple Reinders Group put forward the winning proposal to design, build and operate a modern, new organic waste processing facility.

On Wednesday, September 27, the facility, which is part of the City's Waste Resource Innovation Centre, was officially opened and received the first truckload of organic waste to be composted.

"We are very pleased with having been given the opportunity to provide the City of Guelph with a 'state of the art' composting facility," says John Haanstra, Senior Vice President at the Maple Reinders Group. "The new compost plant will provide the City of Guelph the ability to further enhance its environmental leadership position in Canada. Through composting, you can take resources otherwise regarded as waste and turn them into valuable environmental resources by realizing landfill and greenhouse gas reductions and at the same time improving soil productivity and water quality."

Maple Reinders' design is based on proven aerobic, in-vessel Dutch composting technology which uses fully-enclosed and sealable concrete tunnels, special aerated floors, sprinkler systems and tightly controlled temperature conditions to complete the decomposition process. The concrete system not only keeps in the corrosive moisture and off-gases, but contains much of the odour as well. Any additional odours are captured and scrubbed by an extensive biofilter. Meeting the most stringent approval guidelines in the field, the Guelph facility's complex technologies will keep odours contained within the building.

The Organic Waste Processing Facility for the City of Guelph is able to process 30,000 tonnes per year of Source Separated Organics (SSO). Although the City generates only about 10,000 tonnes of SSO per year, a contract to take in organic waste from neighbouring Waterloo Region will use efficiencies of scale to advantage and allow for future population growth.

Key partners contributing to the project's success include AIM Environmental Group, which will operate the facility, AECOM Inc. providing architectural and engineering design, Christiaens Group and Van Kaathoven Group (both of the Netherlands) as technology providers and compost masters respectively, and BIOREM Inc., the supplier of the facility's biofiltration odour management system.

The new facility will enhance Guelph's waste diversion rate by an additional 10 per cent, contributing significantly to the goal of 55 per cent waste diversion by 2012. Guelph will also profit from the sale of carbon credits created by the environmentally sustainable operation.

For further information:

John Haanstra
Senior Vice President, Environmental
Maple Reinders Group
T 905-821-4844 x 248
E jhaanstra@m aple.ca

Rob Balamut
Marketing Manager
Maple Reinders Group
T 905-821-4844 x 286
E robb@maple.ca