This site was last updated December 24, 2012
Project Start Date: February 2011
Expected SSO Processing Commissioning Period: May 2013 - January 2014
Update
New Green Bin Facility
The Project
The City of Toronto is now constructing a new state of the art Green Bin Processing Facility at the Disco Road Waste Management Facility (120 Disco Road). Construction began in February, 2011. This Facility will allow the City to continue and expand the Green Bin program. Construction work will result in a temporary increase of truck traffic and will involve pile driving, which causes noise and vibration that may be experienced in the nearby area.
When complete, the new Facility will process up to 90,000 tonnes of Green Bin material per year using the same proven technology currently in use at the City’s Dufferin Organics Processing Facility. This technology is called anaerobic digestion and it utilizes microorganisms (bacteria) to convert organics into compost and biogas. Biogas is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide and is a renewable energy source.
Background
Additional processing capacity is needed to meet current and growing demands on the Green Bin program as it expands to multi-family dwellings and as the City continues to progress towards achieving its goal of 70% waste diversion from landfill. A site selection process was completed in 2007 and the Disco Road Waste Management Facility was chosen. See additional information about how this site was chosen.
Goals
This Facility will:
- Support the City of Toronto’s waste diversion goals by diverting organic material from landfill
- Meet current and growing demands on the Green Bin program
- Increase processing capacity within City borders and provide reliable made-in-Toronto capacity
- Produce a high quality compost
- Operate without odours or other off-Site nuisances
- Comply with the Toronto Green Standard
- Maximize the production of biogas, a source of renewable energy
- Initially burn generated biogas, but plans are to implement a beneficial biogas utilization system in the future
Construction Details
Area Map
The new Green Bin Facility will be constructed at 120 Disco Road (Intersection of Disco Road and Carlingview Drive).
Construction Phases & Schedule
Work normally takes place Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday work is not expected unless significant delays related to weather or other uncontrollable factors are experienced. Construction of the new Facility started in February 2011. The stages of the work will involve:
- Site preparation (February 2011 – May 2011)
The Disco Road Waste Management Facility is located on a former landfill. Site preparation work involves removing a mound of previously landfilled material to create space for this new Facility. The landfilled material is non-hazardous solid waste. This material is being excavated, hauled and disposed of at a Ministry of the Environment licensed landfill. As a result increased truck traffic will be experienced for a period of three months. Waste excavation is being done over the winter months to minimize odour impacts.
- Preparation of pile foundations (May 2011 – September 2011)
The new Facility needs to be constructed on a foundation of steel piles because the soil on site is made up of buried waste which is not strong enough to support conventional building foundations. Pile driving activities are expected to run throughout the summer of 2011 for approximately three months, Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be noise and vibration impacts as a result of this activity. Care will be taken to minimize noise impact.
- Construction/Commissioning of the Facility
(June 2011 – January 2014)
This construction stage will result in some additional truck traffic and general construction noise.
Please note that the construction schedule is subject to change and will be updated periodically on this site.
Construction Notices & Updates
- Construction Notice #1, November 1, 2010 (PDF)
- Construction Notice #2, January 24, 2011 (PDF)
- Community Update, March 4, 2011 (PDF)
- Community Update, May 10, 2011 (PDF)
- Update, August 9, 2011
- Update, January 2012
- Update October 2012
- Update December 2012 (PDF)
The Toronto Green Bin SSO Processing facilities have been getting considerable interest from municipal and environmental stakeholders in other Provinces and throughout the Americas. A number of representatives from Canada and the United States interested in implementing comparable facilities in their own communities will be visiting the Disco and Dufferin SSO Processing facilities in November, 2012.
Green Bin Processing
For information about the City of Toronto's processing of organics from the Green Bin program, please view the presentation: The Green Bin Program … from curb to compost.
New Facility Operations
Once construction is complete, operation of the Disco Road Green Bin Facility will include the following:
- Daily increase of up to 15 trucks taking materials to and from the Facility.
- All Green Bin material will be handled and processed inside the Facility and doors will remain shut (except to allow truck access) to prevent the release of odorous air.
- The Facility will be equipped with a state of the art odour control and treatment system which will treat all odorous air before release.
- The City has future plans to make beneficial use the biogas produced by the anaerobic digestion process.
Have a more detailed look at the new facility.
Need More Information?
We welcome your questions, comments and suggestions. For more information, please contact:
Bob Kearse
Senior Engineer
Solid Waste Management Services
telephone: 416-392-3752
email: bkearse@toronto.ca
TTY: 416-397-0831
