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Association ( ERTA ) had an opportunity to visit the world-famous Edmonton Waste Management Centre on June 14 . Because there was more interest in the field trip than could be accommodated on the first tour , a second one was arranged for July 19 . ( Five guides host sixteen school groups and two public tour groups weekly throughout the spring and fall with fewer bookings during the winter .)

North America ’ s largest collection of advanced waste processing and research facilities , located just north of the junction of Anthony Henday Drive East and the Yellowhead Trail in northeast Edmonton , is 233 hectares in size ( more than five West Edmonton Malls ). Capital investment in the facilities and their infrastructure totals about $ 450 million .

On average 4,500 trucks deliver 9,800 tonnes of residential and commercial waste material at the site weekly resulting in about 500,000 tonnes of rubbish being processed per year . About half of Edmonton ’ s residential waste is diverted here from the landfill each year . Ongoing research partnerships with local post-secondary institutions contribute to the long-range goal of diverting 90 % of the city ’ s garbage from the landfill . The proposed Anaerobic Digestion

Facility , a partnership between the city of Edmonton and the University of Alberta , is due to open before the end of 2017 . It will expand the City ’ s organic waste treatment capacity and use the ensuing biogas to generate renewable electricity and heat .

The Clover Bar Landfill , located on the site , opened in 1975 , but because of rapid growth and increased refuse production , the City of Edmonton faced a garbage crisis by the end of the 1980s . Landfill space became limited and alternate sites nearby were non-existent . Ryley , a community seventy minutes away , agreed to provide landfill space for Edmonton ’ s trash , but at a price . And so , as a consequence of necessity , the concept of waste processing evolved . The implications of Edmonton ' s solution , however , have had a broad reach . Delegates from all parts of the globe travel to Edmonton monthly to view the operation firsthand .

From our vantage point atop the three-storeysdeep and nine-storeys-high landfill on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River , we could see the Fort Saskatchewan skyline to the north . To our right was the Integrated Processing and Transfer Facility where bag-breaking spikes separate residential and commercial waste material for composting , conversion to biofuels or

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