StormFisher, the London based firm that transforms food waste into fuel, is looking to divert some of the millions of tonnes of waste from landfills, as it launches a new facility in rural Southwestern Ontario.
The $20 million food waste recovery plant, located in Drumbo, will allow StormFisher to grow its capability to produce fuel sourced from waste that come from communities in Ontario. The company takes food waste from grocery stores, restaurants, manufacturers and municipalities, including Labatt and Maple Leaf Foods, and turns it into fertilizer and renewable energy.
Brandon Moffat, a vice-president at StormFisher, said “This is a great economic development and job story in a rural township in Ontario. It also shows us a template of what can be done across the province.”
“If there’s no processing infrastructure like us in Drumbo, there’s a good chance that it just ends up in the trash, and most of that material goes to landfill, which is in Michigan,” Moffatt said.
The facility is capable of processing over 100,000 tonnes of food waste each year. Using a method known as anaerobic digestion, organic waste is placed into a large oxygen-free tank and heated to about 40 C. It produces renewable electricity and renewable natural gas.
“Ontario has been a leader in this area. But you’re seeing a few of the cities in Southwestern Ontario, whether it be Windsor, Chatham, Brantford, that currently do not have programs that may look to have them,” Moffatt said. “This can be a template of what to follow in terms of working with the private sector to cost-effectively process these organics and in an environmentally sustainable way.”
The company already operates a large biogas facility in south London, that generates renewable energy from waste. The “digested organics” are then turned into fertilizer, according to the company’s website.
