A couple in St. Eustache, Man. are questioning the location of a piece of environmental technology aimed at diverting waste from landfills.
The Rapid Organic Converter (ROC) is a machine made by Manitoba company Innovative NRG. It uses a gasification process; whereby waste is heated and turned into gasses, which are then reignited to provide thermal energy. The company’s flagship machine operates on the property of St. Eustache business Tritec Concrete, which uses the thermal energy it produces.
“Landfills are a big issue,” said Tritec CEO David Paz. “You got everything that goes to landfills. You have plastic, you got SRM which is special risk materials, those things are going to a landfill right now that has to be monitored, and that landfill is going to have to be monitored for centuries.”
Paz says the ROC has the potential to transform how industry deals with waste.
“Our suggestion is to put these strategically in places that are actually producing the most of these things,” he said, pointing to farms and landfills as examples.
The St. Eustache ROC is licensed by the province to process items like telephone poles, medical and meat processing waste, plastic, and farm waste like grain dust and animal hair. The company says it submits which type of material it plans to test to the province for approval.
“This is a research and development machine, this is where we try the new sensors, this is where we try all these things,” said Paz.
But next-door neighbours Barb Lyle and Denis Bergeron question why a test facility is able to operate in town.
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“We just want to know that it’s safe,” Lyle said.
The ROC is allowed to operate on the site thanks to a conditional use permit issued by the Rural Municipality of St. Clements. That conditional use permit was renewed at a hearing in May 2024, with conditions. Ahead of the hearing, Lyle and Bergeron began a petition that collected the signatures of more than 70 people who wanted the ROC moved out of town.
Lyle and Bergeron argue the materials allowed on site make it more consistent with a heavy industrial area.
“We have always indicated that it’s not that we disagree with what he’s trying to do. We think it’s great if it’s proper and it’s working, but nobody can prove to us that it’s safe,” Lyle said. “We would like it just relocated out of the town, away from any residential homes.”
Bergeron, a farmer who says he’s lived in the St. Eustache area for 65 years, told Global Winnipeg he has filed nine odor nuisance complaints about emissions from the ROC. The couple also notified the province when they noticed a silo full of shredded oil containers destined for the ROC was leaning. The silo collapsed a month later.
Environment Minister Mike Moyes says complaints prompted the province to look at Innovative NRG to make sure they’re adhering to their environmental license.
“There’s an active investigation going on. We know that there was some complaints made by residents in the area, and so anytime that that takes place, we want to make sure that the health and safety of Manitobans is paramount,” Moyes said. Moyes could not say when the investigation would be completed.
The ROC has not been permitted to operate, except for testing purposes, since May of 2024. Innovative NRG CEO Del Dunford says they’re awaiting test results after replacing the machine’s scrubber, which uses water to reduce the amount of particulate matter released into the air.
“We shut down, we modify our equipment, and then we do another… test. So it’s very, very controlled, and because of that process, which we’re licensed to follow, the government’s opinion is the consequences to the environment will be insignificant,” Dunford said. “They’re not saying they’ll be perfect, but they’re saying they will be insignificant, because we’re never going to do enough quantity to cause damage.”
Dunford is confident the tests will show the ROC is compliant with its environmental license, and says the ROC is not harmful. He says he will share the test results with the community through their newly-established Community Liaison Committee.
“That’s my fault for not being more… interactive with the community about what’s going on,” Paz said. “I think that’s our biggest challenge is going to be public acceptance.”
The site’s neighbours, however, say they’re not sold, as they’re still waiting on reassurance from the province on emissions.
“I don’t think it’s too much to ask to know that everything is safe,” she said. “You can say it’s safe all you want, but show me that it’s safe.”
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