Toronto’s first renewable gas facility announced

TORONTO — The City of Toronto will construct its first renewable natural gas facility at the Dufferin Organics Processing Facility.

Through the joint project, Enbridge Gas Distribution and the city will build and install equipment that will turn organic waste into clean energy.

Almost 50 per cent of household waste by weight is organic material and when it breaks down, methane is created. Many municipalities burn the methane produced from waste facilities and sewage treatment plants, throwing away the energy resource and the opportunity to lower their greenhouse gas emissions.

Through the new facility, the methane will be captured, cleaned and used like traditional natural gas.

Expected to be complete in 2019, the newly created carbon-neutral, renewable natural gas will also be injected into the natural gas distribution system to fuel the trucks that picked up the Green Bin waste.