LISTEN TO INTERVIEW WITH MARC MACLEOD, GENERAL MANAGER OF LANDFILL

Landfill General Manager Marc MacLeod checking out the pumpkins growing in soil made right at the landfill

Marc MacLeod calls it his perfect job. The General Manager of the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission is excited as he takes me on a tour of the landfill. He’s showing off his baby and you can tell he’s a proud dad. We check it all over, from the top of one cell that is soon closing to the entrance where the new scales are being readied for use. This is a landfill on the move, adapting to environmental challenges as they occur. It’s an exciting time for MacLeod and all his staff.

The biggest change is the recent switch to just three bins for recycling. Instead of sorting everything into five groups now we have just three;  cardboard, paper and boxboard, and the rest of the recyclables including plastic, metal and for the first time, milk cartons. Macleod says the changes are necessary because the recycling market has been seriously affected by the recession. He says they’d like to recycle glass but there’s still no market for it in the region. The exciting news is a major investment to build a sorting conveyor to simplify the process of separating recyclables. In addition, baling equipment will be installed so materials can be packaged on-site for shipment. The project will significantly reduce the operational costs of the Commission and will allow it to manage its recyclables more efficiently.

MacLeod checking a gas pump

Early this fall visitors to the landfill should notice a big improvement in wait times at the front gate. Another set of scales has been installed and will soon be operational. Macleod says this should end some of the long line ups they’ve seen in the past, especially on Saturdays.

By next year the landfill will begin generating its own electricity from the landfill gas it produces. This is mainly methane produced as the garbage in the cells decomposes. MacLeod says they’ve been capturing the gas for the last year and a half and just burning it off but soon they’ll be burning it to produce electricity. A turbine has been ordered and should arrive in March. Once the system is installed the landfill will be able to produce about a thousand kilowatts of electricity a year, enough to power about 800 homes. Macleod says the landfill uses 180 to 250 kilowatts and it will take another couple hundred to run the system, leaving about five or six hundred kilowatts to go into the grid. That’s enough to meet the electrical needs of around 300 homes in a year, all generated by gas that would normally just be burned off.

Recycling building

Composting is continuing at the landfill and they’re experimenting with making their own soil. It must be pretty good judging by the crop of vegetables they’ve been able to grow on site. MacLeod says all this makes the Crane Mountain Landfill one of the largest greenhouse gas reducers per capita, in North America. And that’s something we should all be proud of.

Environment Minister Rick Miles presenting cheque to Marc MacLeod, General Manager of the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission.

Greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced in the province as the result of a new project at the Crane Mountain Landfill.

Environment Minister Rick Miles says, “This project is consistent with the commitments made in the New Brunswick Climate Change Action Plan to reduce landfill gas emissions, to work with solid waste management commissions across New Brunswick to identify options for the management of landfill gas and to encourage projects that capture methane gas from landfills to produce energy.”

The Department of Environment is providing the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission with $1,750,000 for the Crane Mountain Landfill Gas Recovery and Utilization project. The commission will install an electricity generating gas turbine and supporting equipment at the Crane Mountain Landfill site in Saint John.

The fuel for this turbine will be provided by landfill gas.  The turbine will provide primary electrical power for the site. Surplus power will be integrated into the local distribution system. It is anticipated that this project will annually reduce 6,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions through renewable energy offsets and 30,000 tonnes of greenhouse-gas emissions through methane destruction.

With this added technology, it is anticipated that the Crane Mountain Landfill will bring its overall greenhouse gas emission reduction to more than 61,000 tonnes annually. The total cost of the project is $5,000,000.

“Through this innovative project, the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission is directly contributing to the development of renewable energy in New Brunswick and promoting long-term, sustainable growth in the energy sector,” say Energy Minister Jack Keir. “The partnership formed between Saint John Energy and the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission is also a terrific example of the success of our embedded generation policy,” added Keir. “It is truly a wonderful project, and captures many aspects of our vision for the energy hub.”

“This announcement is an exciting day for the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission,” says Marc MacLeod, General Manager of the Commission. “With this investment from New Brunswick’s Climate Action Fund, our new electrical generation capability will place Crane Mountain Landfill as the leader in Atlantic Canada for greenhouse gas reductions. Coupled with our successful compost program, now this landfill-gas-to energy project will soon power 1,000 homes in the region, a first for New Brunswick.” MacLeod added this new project makes the landfill one of the largest greenhouse gas reducers, per capita, in North America.

The new gas turbine should be in operation at the landfill by next summer.