The Prairie Sky project is called a ‘Resource Centre’
for a reason.
Unlike a traditional waste disposal facility, the Prairie Sky operation will extract material from the waste stream and minimize the amount going to landfill.
A clear demonstration of BFI’s progressive strategy is the commitment to establish a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at Prairie Sky. The MRF will allow for sorting of non-soils waste received at the site to cull products with further potential value.
“By building a facility like this we are contributing to our overall goal of waste recovery,” said Dan Pio, Vice President and COO, BFI Canada. “Recycling and reuse are the cornerstones of a sustainable strategy. ”
Waste will be transferred from BFI Canada’s Rockyview site to Prairie Sky, where recyclable rich waste loads will be sorted at the MRF.
“At our Materials Recovery Facility we will harvest valuable resources from waste,” said Mike Gladstone, Project Manager. “Our goal is to be able to divert as much of the waste as we can to positive end uses like recycling and composting.”
The MRF will be a 15,000 square foot building, with the potential to double capacity in the future. The recycling facility will be designed to allow a truck to back right into the building and tip waste material onto a concrete floor. The waste will then be moved to a conveyor belt where manual sorting will take place.
Sorters will pull valuable waste products from the belt, including wood, metal, cardboard, paper and select plastics. In addition to the industrial-commercial-institutional waste BFI will bring to the site, the facility will also process any recyclable materials dropped off by the public.
Not only will the MRF help protect the environment; it will also create more jobs in the M.D. of Foothills. The Prairie Sky team plans to hire locally to operate the facility. There will be four or five new jobs created just in this building: one equipment operator, and three to four manual sorters.
“Creating more jobs for local residents is part of BFI Canada’s commitment to the community,” added Mr. Gladstone.
The Materials Recovery Facility aligns with the Province of Alberta’s Too Good to Waste strategy and with BFI Canada’s overall philosophy of resource recovery.
Mr. Pio sees the future of waste management taking a significant shift to diversion of materials from the waste stream.
“We agree with the Province that the future of waste management in Southern Alberta will be based on recovery,” he said. “We are committed to reducing, reusing and recycling materials in line with the provincial goal of 80% diversion of materials by 2020.”
“This will be a win-win for Alberta and the M.D. of Foothills,” Mr. Pio concluded.
Further questions about the project can be submitted via comment forms at www.prairieskycentre.com or through the toll-free phone number (403-684-3621).