A sizable investment from the Alberta government is set to fund a number of programs that it says will reduce the province's impact on the environment.
Officials say the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund will be providing $58 million to help technological advancements from organizations involved in the Circular Economy Challenge.
That's a strategy that encourages companies to retain valuable materials in the economy and reduce both waste and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the province says.
Some of the innovations that have come from the challenge include a method to recycle asphalt from roofing shingles, capturing and storing carbon in concrete and reprocessing inedible eggs into a powder that's used as animal food.
"Funding is also supporting a critical minerals project in Fort McMurray and a project in Legal that reclaims high-grade rubber tires at the end of their life and sells that product back to manufacturers to be made into new tires," said Environment and Protected Areas Minister Sonya Savage.
"This will be a great example of a fully circular process in the tire supply chain, eliminating a waste stream that is very difficult to manage."
Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) says if all of the projects announced Monday move ahead with development, they will result in GHG reductions of up to four million tonnes by 2050.
The organization says the government's funding commitment "unlocks" the potential of what Alberta needs to stimulate the economy.
"For 13 years now, ERA has been doing just that," said Justin Reimer, ERA's CEO. "We are the trusted delivery partner for the government of Alberta's TIER fund and are supportive of its economic and environmental priorities.
"We invest the revenues from the carbon price paid by the large emitters to accelerate the development and adoption of innovative, clean technology solutions."
The successful recipients of government funding include:
- Northstar Clean Technologies Inc. – Design, build, and commence operations of a new asphalt roof shingles recycling facility – ERA funding: $7.1 million | Project cost: $20.6 million;
- Sparks Eggs – Dehydrate inedible eggs from an existing grading and packing facility into a powder to be used for pet food and animal feed – ERA funding: $500,000 | Project cost: $1 million;
- Rimrock Renewables LP. – Treat the biproduct of the anaerobic digestion process to produce fertilizer, peat, cattle bedding, and clean water on-site – ERA funding: $8.4 million | Project cost: $19 million;
- Hydrovac Waste Solutions Ltd. – Divert slurry from the landfill and recover valuable products from the hydro-vacuum process – ERA funding: $1.7 million | Project cost: $9 million;
- Carbon Upcycling Technologies – Demonstrate a commercial-scale carbon sequestration and utilization technology for the cement and concrete sector – ERA funding: $4.4 million |Project cost: $11 million;
- Phyto Organix Foods Inc. – Construction of a large-scale, commercial, net zero yellow pea fractionation facility – ERA funding: $10 million | Project cost: $231 million;
- Suncor Energy Inc. – Recover Vanadium, a valuable critical metal/element, from the fly ash by-product from coke-fired boilers and use it in the growing energy storage market – ERA funding: $7 million | Project cost: $36 million;
- INCA Renewtech – Construct and operate a first-of-kind commercial facility to create a sustainable, advanced bio-composite material made from hemp stalk – ERA funding: $10 million | Project cost: $89.3 million;
- Circular Rubber Technologies Inc. – Reclaim rubber from end-of-life, high-grade tires from industrial activities and sell the end product back to manufacturers for use in new tires – ERA funding: $3.2 million | Project cost: $14.1 million; and
- RBW Waste Management Ltd. – Install and commission a recycling system for high-density polyethylene containers used to transport liquid and solid wastes and process them into new products – ERA funding: $700,000 | Project cost: $1.4 million.
"These investments will lead, overall, to 33,000 person-year (one year of employment for one individual) jobs being created by 2025 and contribute to $4.9 billion of Alberta's GDP," Reimer said.
"This is huge."
MORE EFFICIENT USE OF RESOURCES
NorthStar Clean Technologies received $7.1 million in grant money toward their $20 million dollar shingle recycling facility. The company has come up with a process to pull aggregate, fibre and, most importantly, asphalt from waste roofing materials.
Those raw materials can then be reused. In the case of the asphalt, it means a considerably more efficient use of the petroleum product.
"Sending a tonne of shingles to the landfill and replacing it with a quarter tonne of virgin oil from a refinery, is about 200 kilograms of CO2 per ton," says NorthStar CEO Aidan Mills. "Ours is about 75 (kilograms per ton) so its a 60 per cent reduction."
Mills says a city of one million sends roughly 50,000 tons of old shingles to landfills each year, or 16 million tons across North America. The money from the grants helps the company move ahead with its first full scale production facility here in Calgary which they plan to open by the second quarter of 2024.
Successful projects are selected by a review process administered by ERA. All organizations chosen for funding must produce a final outcomes report to the public.
The government says these projects represent $528 million of public and private investment.
More information about the projects selected for funding this year are available on the ERA's website.
