Landfill in Calgary, Alberta. (Photo 185939674 © Osa855 | Dreamstime.com)

By Alessia Proietti

Varme Canada

Sylvan Lake town council hears presentation for waste to energy facility

Sep 26, 2023 | 4:59 PM

The conversation for a facility to divert waste from Sylvan Lake’s landfill is back in the air.

At their meeting on Monday, town council heard a presentation by Varme regarding a potential waste to energy (WtE) facility in the area.

Varme, owned by parent company Green Transition Holding (GTH), has WtE facilities with integrated carbon capture and storage around the world, with the goal of eliminating landfills and a sustainable solution for non-recyclable waste.

They say in 2020, solid waste disposal was Canada’s third major source of methane emissions at 21.7 per cent, behind enteric fermentation (animal farming) and oil and gas fugitive emissions.

They add that in Canada, around 26 million tonnes of waste are landfilled annually and 1.2 trillion pounds of garbage are expected to be landfilled over the next 20 years.

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Varme Canada, based in Edmonton but headquartered in Norway, already has projects in the works in Saskatchewan and Alberta. In December 2022, they say a Memorandum of Understanding was finalized for Alberta’s first WtE facility in the Industrial Heartland near Edmonton. They also announced a Joint Working Agreement with Ermineskin Cree Nation, south of Wetaskiwin, to fund and construct the facility.

Varme says Innisfail town council has also signed a Letter of Intent for a facility as a waste solution for a group of rural municipalities.

Varme’s Aitos Gasification Technology for waste to energy facilities (Town of Sylvan council meeting agenda September 25 p.18)

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In 2021, Sylvan Lake town council terminated their Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Fogdog Energy Solutions Incorporated for a proposed No Landfill Disposal Facility (NLDF) in the community.

The NLDF would have diverted waste from Sylvan Lake’s landfill and converted it into carbon “fluff” to be then sold for conversion into hydrocarbon products such as diesel and gasoline.

Following delays from the pandemic, the company then submitted an alternate proposal, adding the step of turning the waste into energy rather than just “carbon fluff”. The town’s Chief Administrative Officer at the time said the new technology is not what the town wanted.

President of Fogdog Energy Solutions Marlon Lee said investors requested the technological change, which would have brought the same benefits as the original plan with an added discount.

READ: Sylvan Lake terminates agreement for No Landfill Disposal Facility

The presentation by Varme was accepted as information on September 25 and no other resolutions are required at this time.