Project Information
Project Overview
Since 2005, Durham and York Regions have been working together to examine ways to manage residual waste - the household residual waste that remains after composting and recycling. Commonly referred to as the Durham/York Residual Waste Study, the Environmental Assessment (EA) was submitted to the province on July 31, 2009, following approval from both Durham and York Regional Councils. The EA outlined, in its entirety, the steps taken in the Durham/York Residual Waste Study that ensured the project will not adversely affect the environment. Following the initial public consultation process, an Amended EA was submitted as the final submission on November 27, 2009, to the Ministry of Environment for review.
The Notice of Completion of the Ministry Review of the Durham/York Residual Waste Study Environmental Assessment was issued in February 2010. The Review documented the ministry’s evaluation of the Environmental Assessment (EA) and took into account comments received from the public during the initial EA comment period. Comments from government agencies and Aboriginal communities were also considered during the preparation of the Ministry Review.
On November 19, 2010, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE), announced the approval of the Durham/York Residual Waste Study Environmental Assessment (EA), with conditions. The approval allows the project to proceed to the permitting stage and into detailed design, construction and operation of the facility. It is anticipated that the construction of the facility will begin in 2011, with a target operation date of 2014.
Durham and York Regional Councils approved Covanta Energy Corporation as the preferred vendor in spring 2009, after putting out a request for proposals (RFP) to five pre-qualified vendors who had passed the Request for Qualifications process. The EFW facility will be fully owned by Durham and York Region’s through a partnership agreement. As Owner’s, the regions will have complete oversight of the operation through a long term (twenty year) contract with Covanta Energy as the design-build-operate contractor. Covanta Energy Corporation is an experienced operator in the energy from waste field and is the largest provider of EFW services in North America.
The EFW facility will be capable of processing 140,000 tonnes of post-diversion residual waste annually while recovering metals and energy. It will be located in the Municipality of Clarington on a 12-hectare parcel, north of the Courtice Water Pollution Control Plant, in The Regional Municipality of Durham.
The EFW will use a thermal mass burn technology, which means that municipal solid waste is fed into a furnace where it is burned at very high temperatures. The waste arriving at the EFW facility will have minimal recyclables content, due to the various province-leading curbside and waste management facility diversion programs offered by the Regions; in addition, any residual metals will be removed from the ash for recycling. The ash is then shipped to landfill to be used as daily cover or reused in manufacturing construction materials.
The EFW process also includes production of high-pressure steam, which is fed through a turbine generator that produces electricity and/or hot water energy that can be used for district heating in the future. In broad terms, the electricity produced by the facility, when operating at design capacity of 140,000 tonnes per year, is sufficient to power about 10,000 homes, while the district heating produced could heat the equivalent of 2,200 homes. Energy sold to the electricity grid will offset the annual operating costs of the facility.
Air emissions will be subject to some of the most stringent levels in the world and the provincial A-7 guideline which will be administered by the MOE. Guideline A-7: Air Pollution Control, Design and Operation Guidelines for Municipal Waste Thermal Treatment Facilities details the ministry’s limits for air emissions from thermal treatment facilities in Ontario