Feb 18 2014
NextUse Recycling Ltd. ("NextUse"), a Belkorp group company, today announced it has applied to Metro Vancouver for a license to build and operate a $30 million material recovery and recycling facility. The license application is supported by the City of Coquitlam which has endorsed the NextUse project as a smart, progressive approach to waste management.
An image of the initial design of the proposed facility
The material recovery facility ("MRF") would create up to 80 new green jobs, using advanced technology to 'break open the garbage bag' and recover useable, recyclable and compostable material from the waste stream and ensure these valuable materials are available for use and not sent to disposal, whether incinerators or landfills. The NextUse MRF would be built in south Coquitlam, at no cost to municipal residents, and would have the capacity to handle approximately 26% of Metro Vancouver's municipal solid waste.
"This license application is the next step in our process to bring advanced material recovery to the lower mainland, following the support we received in January from the Coquitlam city council," said Russ Black, Vice President of Corporate Development, NextUse. "The material recovery concept aligns with Metro Vancouver's provincially-approved waste management plan, and the proposed facility would deliver a host of economic and environmental benefits to the region. For these reasons we look forward to a timely and favourable review by Metro Vancouver."
NextUse Material Recovery Facility | Project Details
NextUse's project was unanimously endorsed by the City of Coquitlam Council on January 20, 2014.
NextUse will be responsible for all construction, land and operating costs for the MRF, and the City of Coquitlam and its residents will bear no new or additional waste management costs or fees. The new green economy jobs created by the project will involve long-term, ongoing employment as part of the facility's operation. NextUse expects the facility to be operational within two years following receipt of a license from Metro Vancouver.
In addition to the project in Coquitlam, NextUse is examining potential opportunities to build another MRF in the Fraser Valley Regional District ("FVRD"), following the FVRD's release of a draft solid waste management plan which prioritizes recycling and material resource recovery. These two facilities, combined with another proposed MRF which has been substantially constructed in the City of Vancouver, would have the capacity to process more than 600,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste left after participation in recycling programs, dramatically increasing recycling levels and reuse opportunities across the lower mainland.
About NextUse Recycling Ltd. and Belkorp Environmental Services Inc.
NextUse Recycling Ltd. is a new recycling business and affiliate of Belkorp Environmental Services Inc. (BESI) NextUse is a progressive approach to waste management, focused on material recovery and recycling which provides new opportunities to local remanufacturers and other members of the green economy.
Advanced material recovery facilities (MRFs) like the one proposed by NextUse represent an important additional step to existing recycling efforts, serving to "break open the garbage bag" and pull out useable, recyclable and compostable material. MRFs help significantly increase the amount of material that is recovered and recycled, and decrease the amount of waste requiring disposal to incinerators and landfills.
Belkorp is keenly aware of the impacts that can be made to the environment through business ventures, and how sound business practices can contribute to sustainability. Since the early 1980s, Belkorp has pioneered a number of innovative recycling and resource recovery businesses, contributing to the foundation of a now burgeoning green economy in western Canada. Starting in 1990, a Belkorp company built and operated the first market newsprint de-inking and recycling facility in the province, located in Coquitlam. A Belkorp company also owned and operated a used oil recycling plant in North Vancouver. In a joint venture, BESI developed an organic waste in-vessel composting facility in Squamish that was eventually bought by and relocated to the Resort Municipality of Whistler.