January 31, 2012

CNW GROUP/WASTE MANAGEMENT

The recycling sort line at a Waste Management facility. The company will open Toronto’s most technologically advanced facility dedicated to processing materials from building construction and demolition sites in fall 2012.

Toronto to open recycling plant for construction, demolition materials

TORONTO

Toronto’s most technologically advanced recycling plant will process an estimated 87,000 tonnes of construction and demolition (C&D) material in its first full year.

Waste Management (WM) recently announced that it will establish such a facility, scheduled to open this fall.

The plant, which was acquired in late 2011, will undergo extensive upgrades and will be able to sort waste materials so contractors and developers won’t have to separate at the source. This will increase recovery rates.

The total investment is expected to be $16 million, and 20 new full-time jobs will be created at the facility.

The C&D facility will support local and provincial government efforts to divert these materials from landfill. It will allow WM to mine these materials for their valuable recyclable content. One of WM’s sustainability goals is to triple the volume of recyclable materials being processed by 2020.

Located south of the QEW at New Toronto Street, the facility will serve western Toronto and the southern parts of Peel Region. Brad Muter, WM’s Vice President for Eastern Canada, noted that the site was selected “because continued strong construction activity and population growth are anticipated in Toronto.”

The C&D facility will support local and provincial government efforts to divert these materials from landfill.

The company recently launched an online tool to help building planners, contractors, architects and owners to measure their C&D recycling, tabulate total diversion rates and provide documentation to support Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

The Diversion and Recycling Tracking tool (DART) is available across the US and Canada, operates online and is accessible 24-hours a day.

At every construction site, builders have an opportunity to divert a variety of C&D materials, such as wood, rock, metal, cardboard, plastic, shingles, concrete, fiberboard and paneling.

With so many substances to manage, calculating total diversion has traditionally been a time-consuming process. DART technology makes it easy to measure and improve performance.

“With the DART tool, contractors and architects can really zero in on what they are diverting and where there is opportunity to improve,” Muter explained.

“We are not just tracking performance for the present, but also setting benchmarks to be surpassed in the future,” he added.

For more information about the DART tool, visit Waste Management’s website.

WM, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America.

Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services.

DCN NEWS SERVICES

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