The City of Montreal will invest $167 million towards a treatment centre for organic waste, which will be located on the eastern part of the island.
Mayor Valérie Plante says the project for the demerged town of Montreal East is the next step towards a greener city.
“The organic residues treatment centre (ORTC) by biomethanization in Montreal East will allow us to fight climate change more efficiently, reduce the city’s ecological footprint, and move closer to our goal of carbon neutrality,” she said.
Biomethanization is the process of treating organic waste through fermentation without oxygen. The ORTC is expected to generate enough biomethane to power up to 3,600 homes by gas.
As a result of the new centre, approximately 60,000 tonnes of organic waste will be diverted from landfills.
Montreal’s organic materials are presently being shipped to Joliette, which Plante says is “unacceptable.”
By moving the operation closer to home, 15,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases will be eliminated every year.
In addition, the centre will generate 40-million cubic metres of renewable gas energy per year. The city plans to use it to heat its nearby water filtration plant.
“It will be used to heat the water filter centre, which is just beside the biomethanization centre, so it’s actually based on the circular economy system,” said Plante.
The ORTC will be built at the corner of Highway 40 and Broadway Avenue in the industrial part of Montreal East.
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For Izabelle Dextras, the owner of a pet daycare and grooming shop across from the site, this is bad news.
“It can be a problem. I can’t lose my business cause of that so I can’t move,” said Dextras. “It’s impossible.”
Dextras insists she won’t go on without a fight.
“I was supposed to go meet the city to know what we can do about it, if we can have a solution, if we can ask for change it because it’s a real big problem.”
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Her neighbour on the other hand, said he doesn’t see how the new centre will affect his business.
“I don’t really have any objections toward this,” said Alexandre Gaudet, from M.G Mecanik. “The area is already industrialized.”
The centre is expected to be inaugurated in 2022.
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