The challenge
Every year, Ontarians generate about 3.7 million tonnes of food and organic waste, and of that amount, around 60 percent is sent to landfills. When we send food and organic waste to landfills, we are not only creating methane gas — a greenhouse gas (GHG) that is 85 times stronger as a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide but we also lose all the resources embedded in food, including energy, nutrients and organic matter used to grow products.
In 2013, the City of Toronto, expanded its Green Bin Program and built its second anaerobic digestion plant designed to divert and revalue a broad range of acceptable materials from landfill and convert them into renewable energy and other beneficial use products.
To effectively undertake the day-to-day operational management of its $75 million (CDN) facility, the City of Toronto was looking for an expert to manage the operations and maintenance of its plant.
Veolia's solution
Since 2014, Veolia has operated the Disco Road facility without an operational incident and the site has been accident free since 2021. The facility ensures that 75,000 metric tonnes — nearly 45% — of the residential organic waste, including food scraps, soiled paper, disposable diapers, feminine hygiene products and pet waste, generated annually by the residents of Toronto through the Green Bin program are:
- Pre-Processing: organics undergo a pre-treatment system to remove non-organic materials such as plastic, glass and metal.
- Processing: the remaining contaminant-free organic slurry is processed through an anaerobic digestion system where, over an approximate 15 day period, the organics are converted to biogas and digester solids. All excess liquids are treated and purified at the on-site water treatment plant before being discharged to the City's sewer system.
- Offtakes:
- The biogas that is created through the processing is upgraded into a renewable natural gas (RNG) and injected into Ontario's natural gas grid. The RNG generated at Disco offsets the City's use of natural gas for its other facilities.
- Digester solids are sent on to a composting facility in southern Ontario, where they are used to make a final Class AA compost product that is later on sold to local agricultural, commercial and horticultural markets in Ontario.
The benefits for our clients
Our partnership with the City helps divert organic food waste from being landfilled and has established a resilient, long-term and sustainable supply of RNG and compost that is built on the principles of sustainability and circularity.
- Creates a durable closed-loop food and organics system that replaces the end-of-life concept of waste with restoration, maximizes the use of existing resources and protects the environment and the community.
- Achieve the goals set in Ontario’s Food and Organic Waste Action Plan
- Ensure that more than 98% of the organics found in the Green Bin of the City are captured and revalued, which avoids the annual discharge of approximately 50,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — equivalent to removing more than 10,800 cars from the road
- Ensure compliance with all provincial environmental laws and regulations related to the collection, transportation, processing and conversion of organics
- Supply more than 15,000 tonnes of nutrient-rich digester solids for composting, an inexpensive, sustainable and natural method that reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and improves the structure and moisture holding capacity of the soil, traits that are of an economic benefit especially given the high cost of planting and maintaining crops in Ontario
- Improve the water sufficiency and water recovery of the facility by collecting, purifying and reusing all liquid digestate, rainwater, and all other water used on-site