The City collects approximately 170,000 tonnes of organic material through its Green Bin Organics program each year. The City has two state-of-the-art organics processing facilities – Disco Road and Dufferin – that use innovative pre-processing and anaerobic digestion technology to break down organic material to produce:
- digester solids, which are used to create high quality compost; and
- biogas, which is made up of methane gas, carbon dioxide and other trace elements and can be upgraded into renewable natural gas (RNG).
Disco Road Organics Processing Facility
Completed in summer 2014, the Disco Road Organics Processing Facility, currently processes 75,000 tonnes of organics per year using a state-of-the-art wet pre-processing system and anaerobic digestion. After arriving at the facility, organic material is pre-processed in a hydropulper where it is mixed with water to facilitate the removal of the non-organic materials. This is followed by anaerobic digestion.
The Disco Road Organics Processing Facility is North America’s first full-scale municipal source-separated organics/green bin waste processing operation to use anaerobic digestion. The Disco facility:
- features a sophisticated odour control system
- incorporates the harvesting of rainwater
- uses biogas in dual-fired boilers to meet processing demand and help heat the building.
In 2016, the City won a Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) Silver Excellence Award in the Composting category for the Disco Road Facility.
The facility is located at 120 Disco Road. In addition to an organics processing facility, the site also includes a transfer station and drop-off depot for various types of waste, including yard waste. The City is planning to install renewable natural gas infrastructure at the Disco Road Facility by early 2024.
Dufferin Organics Processing Facility
In 2021,the Dufferin Organics Processing Facility was expanded to increase its organics processing capacity from 25,000 tonnes a year to 55,000 tonnes a year. The expansion included the following enhancements:
- Installation of a wastewater treatment system
- Expansion of the odour control system
- Increased building footprint to accommodate a larger tipping floor and new processing equipment
- Installation of a buffer tank
- Addition of insulation and new exterior cladding
- Larger spill-containment system
- Relocation of leaf and yard material area.
Like the Disco Road Organics Processing Facility, the expanded Dufferin facility also uses anaerobic digestion, but a different pre-processing system. At Dufferin, the organic material is separated from the non-organic material using a hydraulic press.
In 2021, the City installed new equipment at the Dufferin facility to upgrade the biogas produced from processing organics into renewable natural gas (RNG).
The Dufferin facility is located at 35 and 75 Vanley Cr. and also includes a transfer station and drop-off depot for various types of waste, including yard waste.