Timmins joins northern cities in reducing landfill gas emissions
Decomposing trash in landfills causes greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide to vent into the atmosphere— and the City of Timmins is now installing a system that can reduce those emissions at one of its largest landfills.
The Deloro landfill is over 350,000 square meters in size and the province requires facilities that large to install a gas collection system that can properly dispose of methane gas, one of the more potent greenhouse gases.
The city's manager of environmental services and public utilities, Scott Tam, said details are now being finalized for a Kitchener-based company to install such a system at a price tag of around $2.4 million.
"Basically what we're going to do is instead of venting off into the natural environment, we're going to collect it into one point system and basically flare it off," said Tam.
Flaring is a method of controlled burning that destroys methane. It also results in some CO2 emissions but experts say between the two, raw methane is more dangerous.
Though it's not required of municipalities, Tam said the city wants to eventually install a system that can use the methane collected to heat buildings, power equipment, or sell off to companies.
"At some point in the future (we could) potentially convert it into some type of renewable, self-sustaining energy facility at the landfill itself," Tam said.
Timmins is now more caught up with other northern cities like Sudbury, Sault Ste Marie, and North Bay, which have had gas collection systems at some of their landfills for years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.