City of Hamilton embarks on a state-of-the-art Central Composting Facility

The City of Hamilton, Ontario has begun construction of a state-of-the-art Central Composting Facility. Once constructed, the facility will have the capacity to process 60,000 tonnes of organic household waste per year. The $29.3 million facility, which received $5.2 million in funding from the Province of Ontario’s Provincial Millennium Partnership Fund, is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2006.

Several strategic goals identified in the City’s Solid Waste Management Plan led to the design and construction of the Central Composting Facility. The plan identified the need to reduce waste sent to landfill. Like many municipalities, Hamilton wanted to rely less on its landfill and preserve the landfill’s approved capacity and thus avoid finding new landfill space or exporting the waste to private facilities.

The City adopted a target of 65% waste division by 2008, which exceeds the Province of Ontario’s target of 60% waste diversion. The City estimates that 40% of its waste stream consists of compostable organic material. The organics will be collected separately at curbside and delivered to the composting facility for processing. The end product will be marketed to public and private industry as compost, fertilizer, or for other beneficial uses.

Following an extensive procurement process, the City selected the Design/Build/Operate team of Maple Reinders Constructors Ltd., Associated Engineering, Aim Environmental, and Christiaens Group. A partner on this team, Associated Engineering is responsible for approvals, design, and contract administration. Aim Environmental is responsible for operating the facility, and the Christiaens Group is supplying the technology and equipment for processing the compost.

The compost process methodology is based on the tunnel system, a proven, standardized system operating throughout Europe and in some areas in North America. The tunnel system provides a controlled environment for composting. All facets of the compost process are controlled through a computerized program model. The controlled environment allows for a major reduction in the time required to achieve high quality compost and ensures the compost meets stringent government end-product quality criteria.

Incoming organic waste will pass through screens and shredders and then travel by conveyor to be loaded into 7 metre wide, 6 metre high, and 36 metre long concrete tunnels. The compost is processed for seven to ten days in one of ten Phase 1 tunnels, and then transferred to one of six Phase 2 tunnels for processing another seven to ten days. The product is then conveyed to an outside storage area for final curing and ultimate exporting off-site.

Associated Engineering provided multi-disciplined engineering services for the project, completing the design on a very short schedule. Project Manager, Chris Caers, advises, “We worked closely with Maple Reinders and the City to bring innovative design techniques to this project.”

Associated Engineering staff involved in the project include Chris Caers, Geoff Burn, Mark Belanger, John Conlin, Simeon Dee, George De Ridder, Paul Dufault, Patrick Fritz, Dave Forgie, and Dale Harrison.

John Grylls retires after 35 years of service

Senior Electrical Engineer, John Grylls has retired from Associated Engineering after 35 years with the company. John started his working career with the National Coal Board in the UK. In 1961, he decided to pursue a degree in electrical engineering and was accepted at the University of Wales. Upon completing his degree in 1965, John joined the English Electric Atomic Power Division. He later returned to university to obtain a Masters degree in controls engineering.

Seeking adventure, John and his wife decided to move to Canada in the late 1960s. John joined Associated Engineering’s Regina office in 1969 as an Electrical Engineer. John took on a variety of electrical design work on municipal and industrial projects in Saskatchewan and Alberta. In 1980, with a number of major projects underway in Alberta, John moved to the company’s Edmonton office.

Over the years, John has worked on the design of electrical systems for most of the major water and wastewater works across Canada, as well as many industrial facilities. He has designed high voltage electrical service, substation transformers, metering, primary and secondary switchgear, motor control centres, electrical distribution systems, and lighting. Some of John’s major projects include the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant and E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant in Edmonton, the Nova Chemicals project in Joffre, the Glenmore and Bearspaw Water Treatment Plants in Calgary, the Lulu Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion in the Vancouver area, and the Mannheim Water Supply Project in Ontario.

John is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), and Instrumentation Society of America. He was active in the local Edmonton chapter of IEEE, serving as Chair as well as a key organizer.

At his retirement reception held earlier this year, colleagues, friends, and family acknowledged John’s steadfast service to Associated Engineering, his technical strength, and valued mentorship to staff. Staff across the company know John for his good nature, his sense of humour, and his sense of calm and optimism. Vice President and General Manager, Rod Karius, remarks, “John always made himself available to help staff deal with technical challenges, not by giving them the answer, but by showing them how to approach the problem. He also took a keen interest in the careers of our more junior staff and, in doing so, was instrumental in the development of our strong electrical and controls capabilities.”

John served Associated Engineering with dedication. He was always ready and willing to go to where the projects took him. We could count on John to “get the job done”. For this we thank John and his family. In retirement, we wish John and his wife, Reita, many years of health and happiness.