They’re doing it in Edmonton with Enerkem, which is turning sorted municipal solid waste into ethanol. They’re doing it in Ottawa with Plasco Energy, which is turning residual municipal waste into syngas that’s used for generating electricity. Trash giant Waste Management, an investor in Enerkem, has been investing heavily in technologies that can cleanly convert waste into useful chemicals and fuels in a safe way that releases virtually no emissions into the atmosphere — at least not, obviously, until any end fuel product is burned. But this fuel product would be displacing a fossil fuel using materials that might otherwise degrade in a landfill and release methane or contaminate groundwater.

This is an area where I part with many of my friends in the environmental community, and believe me, I’ve had my share of debates over a beer. But the landfill option is not better, in my view, and while I fully support waste diversion programs I don’t believe we can ever get to 100 per cent diversion. There’s a lot of wood waste, clothing, unrecyclable plastics, and even certain paper and plastic products can only be recycled so many times. What happens with this garbage? Advanced energy-from-waste technologies, like those being built by Enerkem and Plasco, can help municipalities manage their waste in their own back yard and get a source of energy in return.

I’m not saying we should drink the Kool-Aid, no questions asked. But at the same time, I’m a believer that the technology has changed over the years, the economics have improved, and some systems being piloted and built for commercial use today are dramatically different than the dirty incinerators built in the 1970s. Skepticism is fine, and encouraged, but not when it’s accompanied by outright dismissal or repeated attempts to compare today’s technology with what stirred up controversy 20 years ago.

It’s a conversation Toronto needs to have.

Plasco chairman and CEO Rod Bryden called the latest investment in the company “a remarkable expression of confidence.” The company is targeting its efforts at North America, Europe and China. It has two pilot facilities already — a 100-tonne-per-day plant in Ottawa and a much smaller plant in Spain — but a 300 tonne-per-day facility is in the works in Red Deer, Alberta, and is expected to be completed in 2012. One can only assume that the Ottawa facility has worked out its kinks, otherwise I can’t see any responsible investor throwing down $100 million to pursue commercial projects.

This is good news for Plasco and another shot of confidence in the emerging market for new energy-from-waste technologies. Montreal-based Enerkem is another Canadian company riding this wave with its ethanol-from-waste systems, having recently raised nearly $54 million from Waste Management and a number of venture capital firms. Don Roberts, vice-chair of CIBC World Market’s clean technology and green energy team, recently told me that energy-from-waste was one of three main areas to watch over the coming years, along with energy efficiency and water. He may be right.

The Red Deer facility is conditional on the performance of the Ottawa demonstration plant, which must meet certain energy efficiencies and a variety of strict environmental requirements. Same goes for the larger Ottawa plant. There has been some concern expressed, on this blog and others, that Plasco’s pilot plant still isn’t functioning as promises — i.e. that it’s operating under capacity, and has been in and out of service as the company fine-tunes its processes and adjusts equipment. It also hasn’t generated much electricity, which makes sense because the government program that pays 11 cents per kilowatt-hour hasn’t yet started. 

But the company seems to be confident enough with the performance of its Ottawa pilot plant to suggest it will start construction of the Red Deer plant “early in 2009.” Meanwhile, it appears the company has good access to money. You’ll recall last December it announced it had secured access to $200 million in funding to carry through with its plant buildouts. Plasco, in most cases, plans to own, build and manage the plants, earning revenues from tipping fees, electricity sales (where possible), and the sale of other byproducts from its process.

As you’ll see from the picture above, Plasco has also proposed to build one of its plants in Los Angeles, and CEO Rod Bryden has told me the company is in serious discussions with several other municipalities.

Alberta, it should be said, is becoming quite the leader in energy-from-waste adoption. In June the City of Edmonton, the province’s capital, announced that it would turn residual municipal solid waste into ethanol as part of a partnership with Montreal-based gasification expert Enerkem and Toronto-based Greenfield Ethanol, the largest independent ethanol producer in Canada.