Maple Reinders picked to build new $457M organics facility in Halifax

The organics facility will process roughly 60,000 tonnes of waste per year. PHOTO: Adobe Stock/ Martahlushyk1

A P3 consortium led by Maple Reinders has been named the preferred proponent for a project to replace a pair of composting facilities in Halifax with a new organics processing plant.

The Halifax Regional Municipality selected the Harbour City Resources (HCR) build team from a shortlist of four consortia after a roughly three-year procurement period. Along with Maple as the managing partner and builder, HCR includes CBCL Ltd. on the design side, Waste Treatment Technologies as the composting technology provider and AIM Environmental Group for operations and maintenance.

The city and P3 team are currently working to finalize the design-build-own-operate-transfer (DBOOT) contract and are expected to firm up the agreement early next year. The total cost of the facility, including the 25-year maintenance and operations term, is approximately $457 million, according to a report from city staff.

HCR has previously built and operates composting facilities in Hamilton and Guelph, Ont., as well as in Calgary.

The new organics plant will be built in Goodwood, N.S., at the site of the existing Ragged Lake Facility. Once complete, it will replace both Ragged Lake and another composting facility in Dartmouth. It will also increase the city’s composting capacity to 60,000 tonnes per year from 50,000 tonnes previously, using aerobic treatment to process food waste and commercial organics.

Construction is scheduled to start next year and run two to three years.