From Trash To Treasure: Rethinking The Way We Look At Waste

Growing up in a rural community in a small town outside Vancouver I was never introduced to the facade of shiny garbage trucks or efficiently run transfer stations. I was acutely aware of where our waste ended up, because every few weeks I had to load up my Dad’s pickup truck with our garbage bins and make the 20-minute drive with him to the local landfill where we paid to dispose of our waste. I remember seeing the landfill and thinking “what now?”

Waste by its definition means something that is discarded as worthless, defective, or of no use. In 2022, a staggering 36.5 million tonnes of solid waste was generated by Canadians, which based on our population means we are producing just shy of 1 tonne of waste per capita! Of that 36.5 million tonnes, only 9.9 million tonnes was diverted from landfill meaning that 26.6 million tonnes of waste ended up in landfills¹.

This raises an important question: Are Canadians really generating 26.6 million tonnes of waste that cannot be repurposed? The obvious answer is no. Canadians have benefited from abundant natural resources readily available at our doorstep, which has diminished the urgency to explore alternative solutions or maximize resource utilization. 
With all this in mind, Canada has started to make strides in developing a circular economy strategy and guidelines that can help take the pressure off our natural resources. At Geocycle Canada, we have held this belief dating back to the 1970s when we were called Systech Environmental Services, and we began the inception of our Alternative Fuels and Raw Materials (AFR) programs.

Reflecting on my first year leading the Geocycle Canada team, I am proud to see how far we have come in our journey to drive the circular economy towards a zero-waste future. Recently, we successfully commissioned two new Low-Carbon Fuel Plants across Canada (Alberta and Nova Scotia) that will help significantly reduce Lafarge Canada cement plants reliance on traditional fossil fuels, set Thermal Substitution Rates (TSR) records at plants, and increased Alternative Raw Material usage by over 9%. None of this would have been feasible without the unwavering dedication of our fantastic employees, who work every day to drive this change forward. Also instrumental in our success is the strong collaboration with Lafarge Canada and their willingness to push the boundaries of what can be co-processed and diverted from landfills. Finally, we owe much to our partners and suppliers, whose commitment to finding innovative solutions for their waste products has been key to our success.

Geocycle Canada LCF Plant in Nova Scotia

One project in particular worth highlighting was our landmark move towards sustainable industrial practices with the commissioning of the cutting-edge Low Carbon Fuel² (LCF) Facility in Brookfield, Nova Scotia. The Lafarge Brookfield Cement plant has been a part of the community since its commissioning in 1965 and has undergone several initiatives over the years to help reduce its use of traditional fossil fuels. As announced in September, the state-of-the-art facility - backed by an investment exceeding $ 10 million - marks the most significant transformation at the Brookfield cement plant in nearly 50 years. Supported by a $3.53 million grant from the Canadian federal government’s Energy Innovation Program, the initiative is a key step toward advancing clean energy technologies to support Canada’s transition to a low-carbon economy.

When in full production, the new LCF facility will minimize the Brookfield Cement Plant’s reliance on traditional fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions by more than 12,000 tonnes per year³, equivalent to taking 13,480 passenger vehicles off the road⁴. Following its successful commissioning, the facility has already begun pre-processing six and a half (6.5) tonnes per hour of non-recyclable plastics and fibre during the ramp-up stage, targeting to pre-process up to eight (8) tonnes per hour in the optimization stage. This innovative initiative not only demonstrates Lafarge and Geocycle’s commitment to sustainable operations but also represents a critical step toward achieving substantial environmental benefits for the community and beyond.

Geocycle’s collective efforts with Lafarge Canada across multiple provinces demonstrate our bold and steadfast commitment to Canada's sustainable development goals. From the trailblazing Low Carbon Fuel facility in Brookfield, Nova Scotia, to the drive to achieve rapidly increasing TSR and ARM percentages, these initiatives reflect a unified strategy to decarbonize the cement industry, reduce landfill waste, and advance circular economy principles. By leveraging innovative technologies and investing in clean energy solutions, Geocycle and Lafarge are not only reducing carbon footprints but also fostering economic growth and community engagement. These projects are pivotal in driving Canada's transition to a low-carbon economy, serving as a blueprint for sustainable industrial practices nationwide. As we continue to scale our impact with several more projects on the horizon, Geocycle and Lafarge Canada reaffirm our role as industry leaders committed to a greener, more resilient future.

I have finally found the answer to the question I asked myself all those years ago: “What now?” The answer is clear - achieving a zero-waste future is not only possible but essential.  Every person, corporation, government, and municipality has a role to play in making it a reality. The Circular Economy is not a singular or proprietary endeavour; it requires collective action. We all must leverage new and emerging technologies to increase recycling and diversion rates.  Where gaps persist, we must think outside the box to find solutions that turn waste into valuable resources.

^RESOURCES

^{1 https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/solid-waste-diversion-disposal.html}

 ^{2 Low (or lower or alternative low) carbon fuels are defined here and in some Canadian jurisdictions as fuels with lower carbon emissions than the fossil fuels they replace, which in the case of the Brookfield plant is coal.}

^{3  Applicable to Scope 1 plant emissions with reductions determined using WBCSD/WCI methodology}

^{4  Figure calculated using Natural Resources Canada Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.}