A little ingenuity Pilot project in Inuvik just one more example of the benefits the bioeconomy can bring By Mike Jiggens BIOMASS Volume 21 No. 3 Print and digital subscription inquiries or changes, please contact Anita Madden, Audience Development Manager Tel: (416) 510-5183 Fax: (416) 510-6875 Email: [email protected] Mail: 111 Gordon Baker Rd., Suite 400, Toronto, ON M2H 3R1 Editor -Ellen Cools (416) 510-6766 [email protected] CANADIAN Reader Service here aren’t many eyesores on this earth that are worse than a landfill. Unfortunately, they’re a necessary component of our way of life. Still, they’re ugly, smelly, they produce methane gas, at-tract vermin, and the list of negative attri-butes goes on and on. Landfills are also a mag-net for materials that should never be there in the first place. Waste products that can and should instead by recycled continue to make their way to landfills, which not only contributes to the aforementioned problems, but unnecessarily shortens the capacity and lifespan of these sites. In Inuvik, N.W.T., about 100 tonnes of cardboard finds its way each year to the local landfill. Cardboard is a material normally recycled in most Canadi-an communities – a practice which greatly lessens the amount that finds its way to a landfill, but that hasn’t been the case in Inu-vik. The nearest recycling facilities are a day’s drive away, and the costs of trucking card-board and other recyclable waste makes the effort impractical. A simple solution has been conceived that is killing two birds with one stone in Canada’s far North. Approximately 60 per cent of all waste cardboard from the community is being di-verted from the landfill – not to be recycled, but repurposed for practical use. The Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik has embarked on a project that turns most of the community’s waste cardboard into pel-lets, thereby reducing the amount of land-fill-bound waste and contributing to a useful source of fuel for heating. The four-year-old project is showing tre-mendous promise. Blended with wood pel-T lets, the cardboard pellets – even at only five per cent of the mix – are playing an import-ant role in the area’s growing heating market. Interestingly, the research project’s origi-nal intent was to look at plastic waste before the focus was redirected toward cardboard. In hindsight, it would seem the research team made the wiser decision. Accessing waste card-board isn’t as daunting a task as it might seem. Businesses such as grocery stores and others that deal regularly with cardboard packaging are eager to contribute their cardboard for pellet manu-facturing rather than paying tipping fees for disposal at the landfill. It has become a win-win situation for all parties. The process involved in manufacturing cardboard pellets has its similarities to wood pellet manufacturing as well as its differenc-es. This has been the focus for much of the research. Read the story in this issue on page 10 to learn the science behind processing waste cardboard into pellets. More good news from this research proj-ect is that the cardboard pellet production is poised to be turned over to the private sector so that a continuous output of this supple-mental fuel source can be realized in perpe-tuity. This means job creation for members of the community – another plus. It’s amazing what a little ingenuity can do. This is a great example of a project that has addressed an environmental concern, has turned an otherwise useless product into one of value, and has positively contributed to a community’s employment picture. • Interim Editor -Mike Jiggens (519) 429-5184 [email protected] Contributors -Gordon Murray, William Strauss, Mahmood Ebadian, Guillaume Roy, Peter Diekmeyer Group Publisher -Todd Humber 416-510-5248 [email protected] Account Coordinator -Shannon Drumm Ph: (416) 510-6762 [email protected] National Sales Manager -Rebecca Lewis Ph: (519) 400-0332 [email protected] Quebec Sales -Josée Crevier Ph: (514) 425-0025 Fax: (514) 425-0068 [email protected] Western Sales Manager -Tim Shaddick [email protected] Ph: (604) 264-1158 Fax: (604) 264-1367 Media Designer -Svetlana Avrutin COO -Scott Jamieson [email protected] Canadian Biomass is published four times a year: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Published and printed by Annex Business Media. Publication Mail Agreement # 40065710 Printed in Canada ISSN 2290-3097 Subscription Rates: Canada -1 Yr $57.00; 2 Yr $102.00 Single Copy -$9.00 (Canadian prices do not include applicable taxes) USA – 1 Yr $121.50 CDN; Foreign – 1 Yr $138.00 CDN Annex Privacy Officer [email protected] Tel: 800-668-2374 Occasionally, Canadian Biomass magazine will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission ©2021 Annex Business Media, All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca 4 Canadian BIOMASS SUMMER 2021
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