New Organics Facility

Environmental Approval Process

Last updated: Monday, September 27, 2021

As part of the Municipal Waste Facility Application process, Nova Scotia Environment & Climate Change (NSE) required a 30-day consultation period to allow for comments to be submitted to the municipality. While the timeframe for formal comments closed on August 31, 2021, residents may continue to submit inquiries by email to compostmatters@halifax.ca.

Organics Strategy Development
Since 2014, the municipality has been working towards developing a new organics management facility to process residential and commercial organics. As part of the planning steps, the conditions of the two existing composting facilities were assessed, a business case for a new facility was developed, and comprehensive public engagement was completed  (September to December 2016) with the findings incorporated into the siting and requirements for the development of a new facility. The existing facilities are the Ragged Lake Facility located at 61 Evergreen Place in Goodwood; and the Dartmouth Facility located at 80 Gloria McCluskey Avenue in Burnside.


Site Selection and Zoning
In March 2018, Regional Council approved changes to the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy (RMPS), the Halifax Mainland Planning Strategy (MPS), as well as the Land Use By-law (LUB), to enable the replacement and expansion of the municipal composting facility located on Evergreen Place.
As part of the planning review process, public consultation was achieved by:
•    Providing information, and seeking comments, through the municipal website 
•    Mailing notification letters to property owners within 1500 m of the site;
•    Holding two public information meeting sessions on Thursday July 20, 2017;
•    Holding a public hearing during the March 27, 2018 meeting of Regional Council, which provided further opportunity

Design, Build, Operate Agreement
In December 2020, Regional Council awarded RFP 19-060, which will see the establishment of a new composting facility to replace the two existing composting facilities and support the continued success of the municipal green cart program. The new facility will be located at 37 Evergreen Place, Goodwood, on the site of the current Ragged Lake Composting Facility.
Harbour City Renewables Partnership (HCR) has designed, built, and currently operates composting facilities in Hamilton (2006), Guelph (2011), and Calgary (2017). HCR’s design for the Halifax composting facility builds on an established technology and design. 

Design Features
Modern features for the proposed facility include:
•    Compost Quality – The compost being produced at the new facility will meet the 2010 NS Environment Composting Facility Guidelines. 

•    Odour Control – The new facility design incorporates significant measures to mitigate odours, including the use of air locks/double doors. Air from inside the facility is scrubbed through a four-cell biofilter system which discharges air to a single 30 m tall exhaust stack – this means that odours from the facility cannot escape to the surrounding community.

•    Energy Efficiency – The facility design includes LED lighting and will take advantage of the heat generated from the compost process, and rooftop rainwater collection.

•    Water Negative Process – Unlike the existing composting facilities, the new facility will be water negative. This means any leachate produced is recycled through the process and does not have to be treated off-site. Storm water from the site is also collected and reused in the composting process and for fire protection. No process wastewater will be discharged from the facility.

•    New Use of By-products – Ammonium sulphate, generated from the odour control system, can be marketed as a fertilizer product for the agriculture industry.

Timeline
The new facility is anticipated to begin construction in 2021 and will take approximately two to three years to complete, following the additional public consultation. There will be no disruptions to the green cart program for residents during this transition project. Organics will continue to be processed at the two existing facilities until the new one is complete.
 

Community Integration Funding
As part of amendments to the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS), the Halifax MPS and the Halifax Mainland Land Use By-Law (LUB), to expand the property at Evergreen Place to allow for the development of a new facility, on April 25, 2017, Regional Council approved the establishment of a community integration fund. This included an allocation of $350,000 for the development of the Western Common Wilderness Common, $325,000 towards the Prospect Community Centre, and $325,000 to projects identified through community consultation. For the latter initiative, municipal staff plan to initiate the community consultation in fiscal year 2021/2022 to determine how to allocate the funding. 
 

Common Questions 

Will the new facility have environmental monitoring?

Yes, environmental monitoring will be in place, including:

  • Inspections and monitoring of erosion and sedimentation controls
  • Surface water quality monitoring (storm water pond and surface water sources);
  • Groundwater quality (including well water) monitoring;
  • Wastewater quality monitoring;
  • Secondary containment liner sump monitoring;
  • Compost quality monitoring; and, Odour emissions monitoring.

The new facility has been designed to minimize environmental impact. The facility is energy efficient (as compared to similar facilities), generally will generate no leachate and will have state of the art odour mitigation measures in place.

Will the new facility produce greenhouse gas emissions?

Diverting organics from landfill disposal through source separation (i.e. green cart collection) is the most effective way to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from our waste. It is estimated that in 2019/2020, this diversion mitigated approximately 23,845 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) (compared to if had the organics been landfilled). This is equivalent to removing 5,299 passenger cars from the road for 1 year.

One of the key drivers during the development of the design was the management of air throughout the facility. This will maximize the energy efficiency of the proposed facility. The system takes advantage of the heat generated from the in-vessel composting process by capturing it from the vessels and process air ductwork and using the energy to provide heat throughout the facility.

This means the proposed compost process is an entirely closed loop system and does not require any external heat energy requirements.

A heat capture system will allow the facility to be ‘off-grid’ and not require a natural gas line routed to the facility, reducing the carbon impact and requirements to the region.

Other energy-efficiency measures incorporated include:

  • Energy-efficient (LED) lighting and long-lasting fixtures;  
  • A pre-engineered steel structure, which is very effective preventing heating and cooling losses; 
  • Rooftop rainwater collection.
Will the new facility create an odour in the community?

The proposed facility design incorporates state of the art measures to mitigate odours, including:

  • use of a double-door air lock system in the loading/unloading bays (a first of its kind feature),
  • negative air pressure in the processing areas
  • odour collection and treatment system

Air from inside the facility is scrubbed through an odour treatment process which includes four acid scrubbers and a 4-cell biofilter system, which discharges treated air to a single 30 m tall exhaust stack. This means that odours from the facility cannot escape to the surrounding community.

A stack monitoring system will be installed to monitor multiple indicative odour characteristics and provide trending and analysis to the operations team. This monitoring will provide proactive feedback to the operations team and act as an early warning system if there are any issues with the performance of the odour control equipment. Annual odour dispersion modelling and evidence-based reporting will be completed to confirm compliance with odour control requirements.

Will there be any additional environmental impacts?

Examples of potential impacts, and accompanying mitigation issues reducing environmental impacts, include:

Noise: Mitigation measures employed to reduce any noise emissions will include using equipment with lower noise ratings, ensuring machinery is properly muffled, and conducting all work in accordance with NSE guidelines and municipal by-laws.

While the use of heavy machinery during construction may result in temporary impacts, they are not expected to be significant as the area is zoned for industrial use.

Surface water and groundwater: Impacts to surface water or groundwater are not anticipated to occur. Mitigation measures include erosion and sediment control, secondary containment beneath the facility building, and spill prevention measures.

Dust and exhaust: Dust and exhaust fumes are not anticipated to be issues during operations. Site roads will be completed with asphalt.

During construction, dust and exhaust fumes from machinery, excavation, concrete pouring and asphalt coating are anticipated to be minimal. The following mitigation measures may be used during the construction phase:

  • Using water as a dust suppression technique;
  • Repairing any disturbed areas, such as ground and soil;
  • Covering and securing loads on vehicles transporting materials to and from the site;
  • Avoiding construction activities during extreme weather events, such as high winds;
  • Discouraging the idling of heavy machinery and vehicles, whenever possible;
  • Monitoring the construction site for any dust concerns;

​​​​​​No burning of clearing or grubbing materials will be permitted on-site. Surplus clearing and grubbing materials will be hauled off site for disposal.

Wildlife: Potential adverse impacts to local wildlife could occur if they come in contact with rejected, residual, by-product, or dangerous waste materials on site.

In order to protect wildlife from any adverse impacts, the facility will ensure the proper storage and disposal of rejected, residual, by-product or dangerous waste materials and implementation of vector control measures. This will include a daily inspection of the facility, immediate collection and containment of litter on site, and the implementation of security measures preventing illegal dumping on site.

Tree clearing and vegetation removal could result in the temporary loss of habitat for wildlife species, but similar habitat in surrounding area would support such species.

Risks to migratory birds and nests are not anticipated, as vegetation clearing is planned to occur before the general nesting period. Additionally, no at-risk species were detected, or are anticipated to be present, on site at the time that vegetation clearing is planned to occur.

How will pests be controlled at this facility

The fully enclosed receiving area and organics processing system is designed to minimize attracting pests, and will be supplemented by regular maintenance, a third-party pest control agency and housekeeping procedures. Residue from the process is stored within enclosed residue bunkers and will be regularly removed from the facility. Vectors, such as flies, will be controlled by baiting and flying insect control measures. There will be no processing of organics outside of the facility; and there will be no storage of organics or any by-products outside of the facility.

Will the facility cause wastewater (leachate)?

Unlike the existing composting facilities (Ragged Lake and Burnside) which generate leachate that requires treatment, this facility is water negative and will generally not produce leachate.

All process water used in the proposed facility is recirculated, thus advancing the biological composting process, and minimizing the need for the introduction of large quantities of clean water.

Will the truck traffic increase on Prospect Road?

On average, 23 trucks per day deliver material to the existing Ragged Lake composting facility. Upon closure of the Burnside composting facility, it is estimated that up to 36 additional trucks will travel to the site each day.

A traffic impact review was conducted as part of the 2018 RMPS, MPS and LUB amendments. This review found that Prospect Road, including turning lanes could sufficiently handle increased traffic to the site.

The access road into the facility allows for queuing of trucks prior to arrival at the scale without intruding on public roads. There will be no queuing of trucks on public roads. The scale has a bypass lane to allow other traffic to enter the site without being impeded by trucks on the scale.

During construction, traffic control will be provided at the Evergreen Place junction as-required to ensure there are no impacts on traffic flow to the existing facility or local businesses.