Petawawa receives $3M for food-waste conversion project
The federal government is investing nearly $3 million to support a project that converts food waste into renewable energy in Petawawa.
The Town of Petawawa will use the $2.7 million in funding from the federal government to upgrade digesters at its wastewater treatment plant to turn food waste into clean energy. The town is also contributing $2.7 million, and the total funding will increase the production of biogas and help process more organic waste to generate electricity and supply energy to the plant.
Over the lifetime of the project, the town estimates it will see a cumulative reduction of about 300,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions—the equivalent of taking approximately 92,000 cars off the road for one year. It will also divert 280,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill over the next 10 years. The food waste diversion will also help diminish the need for new landfill sites.
“The Town of Petawawa is committed to leading by example on climate change by transitioning the delivery of essential services in a way that reduces greenhouse gas emissions generated from our own biogas produced through wastewater operations,” said Petawawa Mayor Bob Sweet. “Upgrading anaerobic digester technology at the wastewater treatment plant from a traditional to resource-recovery process supports a clean economy focused on renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. This net-zero initiative promotes environmental sustainability through food waste diversion from landfills and the optimization of existing municipal facilities.”
The federal funding for the project comes from the champion stream of the Government of Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Challenge, which invests in projects that reduce carbon pollution.
The Low Carbon Economy Fund supports energy-efficiency projects in provinces and territories across the country. It is one of the tools the government intends to use to meet or exceed its climate change targets set out under the Paris Agreement.
“This project will cut pollution equal to removing every car in Renfrew County from the road for one year,” said Neil Ellis, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “It’s a great example of the type of innovative leadership that municipalities across the country are taking to help Canada exceed its 2030 Paris Agreement target and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.”
The design, procurement and construction phases of the project are expected to begin this spring, with construction wrapping up in the summer of 2022. Performance testing is planned for the fall and winter of 2022.