SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — Green for Life Environmental
June 23, 2022
Honourable senators, I rise today to highlight the GFL Eastern Ontario Waste Handling Facility in Moose Creek, Ontario, that I had the opportunity to visit earlier this month with our honourable colleague Senator Bernadette Clement and municipal representatives of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, as well as Prescott and Russell. With my interest and experience in agriculture, I would like to thank Senator Clement for inviting me to accompany her on the tour and for ensuring there were local farmers present during our visit as well.
Honourable senators, GFL Environmental Inc. is a waste management company that provides environmental services to municipal, residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers, and employs more than 8,850 people across Canada. In fact, the facility in Moose Creek has grown to service over 500 communities, towns and municipalities in the area.
During our visit, we had the opportunity to learn more about their innovative new green initiative that will reduce their carbon footprint while providing a new, renewable energy source to clients in eastern Ontario. This new initiative aims to produce renewable natural gas and create new green opportunities, in addition to those associated with the existing resource recovery operations such as composting and landfill gas-to-energy programs. This opportunity would also allow for greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and be a source of renewable energy generation as part of Ontario’s transition to a low-carbon economy. However, in order for GFL to realize this new initiative, they have been meeting with the federal and provincial governments to look for financial support.
As an “agvocate,” I was excited to learn that GFL and the Township of North Stormont will be teaming up with a third party to bring local agricultural expertise and capital to invest in greenhouse operations to be located at the Moose Creek facility. This initiative would put the Moose Creek facility in a position to provide a low-cost heat source captured from the existing turbines generating electricity and a green substitute for the traditional carbon heat source used now for greenhouses. This is particularly important, as they could then provide a source of local food security for eastern Ontario and the National Capital Region, and reduce dependence on foreign food suppliers while also reducing greenhouse gases through the reduction of long‑haul trucking needs.
At this time, I’d like to thank the team at the GFL Moose Creek facility for allowing Senator Clement and me the opportunity to learn more about their operations. I am truly excited to see what comes next for the Moose Creek facility and for GFL across Canada. The work they are doing, especially with regard to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting our agricultural industry, is critical.
Honourable senators, I’d like to highlight that agricultural organizations, and agriculture-adjacent organizations like GFL, are doing their utmost to support Canada’s targeted emission-reduction strategies. However, it is imperative that we support them as they make their way to being greener, cleaner and more sustainable all while continuing to feed Canadians and the world.
One way you can continue to support them this summer is by shopping locally, whether that is at a nearby farm or farmers’ market. We all enjoy the fruits — or vegetables — of a farmer’s labours, so let’s be sure to acknowledge the hard work that goes into making a strong food supply chain, from seed to store shelves. Thank you. Meegwetch.
Honourable senators, this month I had the pleasure of visiting an up-and-coming hub of economic activity, a small town on Highway 138 roughly midway between here and Cornwall. Moose Creek packs a bigger punch than you would expect based on its geographic footprint. Locals know it for its quality dress shops, expanding outdoor tourism opportunities and, well, its landfill. I visited GFL Environmental’s site in Moose Creek with Senator Black. He has just spoken very eloquently about his area of expertise: agriculture and rural development.
What I would like to focus on today is the good, the bad and the exciting. First the good: This 2,400-acre site with a team of 40 employees is innovating daily. They are using hawks to deter seagulls, using stone dust instead of sand for cover, creating high quality compost from material most of us would dismiss as waste and generating electricity from landfill gas.
The bad: As officials from across eastern Ontario toured windrows of decomposing kitchen scraps and yard debris, staff commented that it seemed as though every apple core came wrapped in its own plastic bag. Plastic seems to contaminate everything.
Like the landfill in Cornwall, my hometown, the Moose Creek site is filling up fast because Canadians produce an unbelievable amount of waste. GFL hopes to expand its site to continue serving eastern Ontario and western Quebec.
Everyone should tour a landfill. It becomes an important exercise in self-reflection. We produce all this trash, but we don’t want to live next to it. In Moose Creek, there are open lines of communication, and I expect consultation with residents to continue. This project has partnership potential that goes beyond business. The folks I met at GFL are determined to earn the support of both the provincial and federal governments, as Senator Black indicated.
Now for the exciting: GFL Environmental has developed an ambitious plan that would see renewable natural gas produced from landfill gas. The current volume of gas could heat over 11,000 homes, and projections indicate that number could rise to 20,000 by 2045. Local farm digesters would pump renewable natural gas from livestock operations into the grid from a connection point at the GFL site. A greenhouse could be fuelled with green heat.
I believe in this team’s ability to garner support to find even more ways to repurpose our waste and to put the little village of Moose Creek on the map as a shining example of innovation, partnership and green investment. Thank you, nia:wen.
