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Saewa presents Kneehill with option to turn waste into energy

At the Tuesday, April 9, Council Meeting, Kneehill Council members accepted, as information, a presentation from Southern Alberta Energy from Waste Association’s (SAEWA) Vice-Chairman, Paul Ryan.

Established in 2009, SAEWA is a non-profit alliance of municipalities and waste management locations in southern Alberta. Their goal is developing sustainable waste management practices.

“Our project goal is the research and implementation of energy recovery from non-recyclable waste materials, and to get away from our long-term reliance on landfills,” states Ryan to Council.

The technology, decided upon by the project engineers, is Thermal Treatment of Waste, otherwise known as incineration. The waste won’t be burned through giant smokestacks, emitting thick black smoke. The emissions are cleaner than natural gas and the smoke from the waste will not be as visible.

The site for the facility, which will have a processing capacity of 300,000 tonnes of waste per year, will be in Newell County. They have a landfill that is already approved for Municipal Waste Management, and is far from residential areas.

SAEWA conducted a Feasibility Study for the project, which is mandatory for any government organization.

“We looked at how much waste was out there, how it was collected and transported, and the ability to recover heat and generate electricity,” Ryans says of the study. “We looked at air emissions and our control options. one-third of the cost of waste facilities are dedicated to air emissions.”

The engineers completed a life-cycle analysis, alongside the Pembina Institute which are a third-party think-tank dedicated to advocating for strong and effective policies in support of clean energy. The data from their analysis was verified by Oil and Gas Sustainability.

“The project as it is now, with all of the information that was provided by our engineers, is that they reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 230,000 tonnes a year, or over 7,000,000 tonnes over the lifespan of the project,” states Ryan on behalf of the report about the analysis which was released by the Pembina Institute.

There are a lot of materials that cannot be recycled due to contamination from food products. These materials go into the Energy Waste facility to generate the energy for the operations. Energy recovery waste products increase recycling through other materials such as metals that are pulled from the waste. There is also the processed steam that can be used for district heat, food processing and can even be processed back into water for the facility.

“What are the environmental benefits of waste to energy rather than landfilling?’’ Councillor Carrie Fobes asked Ryan at the end of his presentation.

“That is a really, really good question,” replied Ryan. “There is something called a National Inventory Report done by Environment Canada. It notes the top contributors of greenhouse gasses. Landfills are responsible for 28 per cent of the methane produced in Canada, which is about 20 times worse than CO2. If you have an Energy Waste facility, you do not have the methane generation that comes off gasses from municipal landfills, with municipal solid waste.”

There has been over three million dollars invested in the project so far, with $1.5 million of that going towards conducting all of the reports.

Council moved to accept the presentation as information and made a motion to request confidential documents from SAEWA before they make any further delegations. The documents will be provided to council members in confidence.

Emergency services respond to collision

Drumheller emergency services, including the Drumheller Fire Department, AHS Ambulance and RCMP, responded to a two-vehicle collision at the intersection of South Dinosaur Trail and 13 Street SW shortly after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23. An SUV and a motorcyclist collided. The motorcyclist was taken to hospital with undetermined injuries. Traffic was directed around the scene, but was quickly restored, as emergency services cleared the scene.

Volunteer Week: Volunteerism great way to get involved

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Volunteering can be a great way to get involved in the community, especially when you are new in town.
Tony Miglecz came to Drumheller about four years ago and settled in East Coulee. It didn't take long to get involved in the community. He is currently the president of the East Coulee Community Association. Like many volunteers, he took on the role because there was no one else coming to the table.
“Basically there wasn’t going to be anyone stepping up,” he said. “I couldn’t just watch that fall to the wayside.”
He adds, interestingly enough, a couple more board members have come on board who are also relatively new to the valley.
He also saw the importance of making sure residents’ voices were heard during the flood mitigation projects and volunteered to sit on the Community Advisory Committee. That led him to become one of the organizers of the Chainsaw Wizards tree carving event.
This is going into its third year and not only has it allowed trees that had to be cut for the project to take on a new life, but also created a premier event and beautified the valley.
His reputation for being involved with these projects also led to people asking him to get involved in the Festival of Lights.
He also has taken a position as a volunteer firefighter at the East Coulee Fire Hall, and as a member of the Valley Cruisers.
He says some of the personal rewards he gets is meeting lots of people.
“It is great to get to know people, and there are a lot of issues in the valley that people talk about, and I hear from all sides. It’s a good way to know the valley,” he said. “For me it is just getting to help out and the satisfaction for me is not watching things flounder.”
“The way I see it, it is part of our mission, we're here to build the community. East Coulee is called a ghost town on some websites, but it is not a ghost town. There are lots of things going on out here, it is actually quite a busy community once you get in here.”
He says it should be an easy decision to take up volunteering.
“If you like going to the event and it was great to be a part of it, why not take a step forward? They need help with all of these events, you never know, you might find something,” he said, adding that you may have special skills or abilities needed.
“Someone has to step forward and take the reins, and, you never know, it might be you.”

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