Waste facility given notice of cancellation
Alberta Environment and Parks has notified Cleanit Greenit that the registration for its west Edmonton composting facility is cancelled effective June 30, 2022.
Cleanit Greenit operates under a registration, meaning the facility must comply with Alberta’s Code of Practice for Composting Facilities. This Code of Practice requires facilities to manage site runoff, implement measures to control odours, litter and pathogens, and meet groundwater performance standards.
Following detailed inspections of the facility, Alberta Environment and Parks has identified ongoing and persistent issues related to air, land and water. These include odour concerns and contaminants found in groundwater.
Alberta Environment and Parks has determined it requires a more suitable tool to better regulate this complex facility instead of its current registration under the Code of Practice.
The department is giving Cleanit Greenit more than a year for the cancellation to take effect to allow the company to choose a path forward for the facility. If the facility wishes to operate beyond June 30, 2022, there are several options including applying for a new authorization under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.
For any application, Alberta Environment and Parks considers public input, and can also establish operating conditions tailored to the facility that ensure environmental objectives for waste management are met while addressing potential environmental and community impacts.
Quick facts
Alberta Environment and Parks has worked with Cleanit Greenit for more than a decade to help bring the facility into compliance with provincial requirements.
The enforcement order, originally issued to Cleanit Greenit in 2011 and amended eight times since, remains in force as not all of its requirements have been met. This enforcement order has outlined a number of requirements for the facility since 2011, including accepting a more manageable amount of waste material for composting to mitigate and eliminate odour concerns.
Compost facilities that accept 20,000 tonnes or less of waste per year must meet all the requirements of the Code of Practice.
As a Class I composting facility, Cleanit Greenit may accept any type of waste that is not hazardous waste, including source separated organics from curbside collection, food waste, biosolids and agri-food processing waste.
In the last five years, Albertans have made more than 800 calls to Alberta Environment and Parks with complaints about unpleasant odours allegedly coming from the facility.
Albertans can report incidents that may cause harm to the environment, including concerns about odours, to the Alberta Environmental and Dangerous Goods Emergencies hotline at 1-800-222-6514.