Montreal opens its first-ever indoor centre to process organic waste
Posted October 21, 2024 1:28 pm.
Last Updated October 21, 2024 5:11 pm.
The city of Montreal opened its first-ever indoor facility to process organic materials.
The centre, located in Saint-Laurent, opened its doors Monday, with the goal the Plante administration says of helping fight climate change — reducing the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and lessen its negative environmental impact.
“Thanks to our continued efforts, nine out of 10 residences now have access to composting,” said Montreal mayor Valérie Plante in a press release. “We will continue to roll out measures to raise awareness so that the entirety of the population composts.”
According to the release, urban organic waste will now be processed locally, instead of being sent 188 kilometers away, as was the case before. The compost produced from the process will be used to supplement Quebec soil.
The centre can process up to 50,000 tons of waste per year.
The centre will be open for educational school trips starting next year in an attempt to popularize composting and changing citizens’ waste management habits.
Municipalities collect organic waste of 80 per cent of residences in Montreal, stated the release. Adding that six out of 10 people residing in buildings with eight or less units compost.
In residences containing over nine units, this number drops to three.
The building follows recommendations made in a report by the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) in 2012.
“The Saint-Laurent organic waste treatment centre is a fully enclosed and airtight building,” said the release. “Thanks to the use of closed tunnel composting technology, airlocks at the access doors and the maintenance of negative pressure in the building, odours are captured and treated by a high-performance air treatment system.”
“Rigorous monitoring is carried out on the air evacuated through the chimney, in the ambient air via mobile sensors,” the city added. “As well as using a weather station installed on the site.”
The building is also part of Quebec’s Policy for integrating art into the architecture and the environment of governmental and public buildings and sites.
It includes a piece by Philippe Allard and Alexandre Burton called Passages exothermiques.
On the outside of the building, the art is inspired by what happens above-ground, like the natural decomposition of a leaf. The inside, on the other hand, represents what happens underground, or inside the factory.
The project cost a total of $169 million and was financed by the City of Montreal, the Canadian and Quebec governments, and the urban agglomeration of Montreal.
