A consortium consisting out of three firms has won the bid to design, build, partially finance, operate and maintain the future waste processing facility at Hartland Landfill, the most significant local component of the $765-million regional sewage treatment project currently underway.
The facility will process residual solids from the McLoughlin Point Wastewater Treatment Plant now under construction into so-called Class A biosolids that can be used for various purposes including alternative energy. A pipeline will pump the material from McLoughlin Point to Saanich.
The Capital Regional District awarded the tender for the waste processing facility to a consortium that consists out of Bird Construction,Maple Reinders PPP, and Synagro Capital.
The CRD announced that construction would start in the spring of 2018, lasting some two-and-a-half years.
It also promises what it calls a “robust community engagement plan” to ensure residents will have advance notice of construction activity. Communication tools will include a phone number offering information about the project, email, social media, website, community updates, construction bulletins, traffic media updates, community information meetings, and door-to-door advisories where appropriate.
The facility itself will use an anaerobic digestion process followed by a dryer process to produce the dried biosolids. Biogas generated during the digestion process will fuel the dryer.
The final product will resemble dark ash, and the CRD’s Integrated Resource Management (IRM) Advisory Committee will consider its final use under a separate planning process, with a “definitive plan” in place by June 30, 2019.