Montreal's newest composting centre will be in RDP—Pointe-aux-Trembles
East end residents worry the composting plant will give their neighbourhood a bad image
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre announced the location for the city’s newest composting centre will be in the borough of Rivière-des-Prairies—Pointe-aux-Trembles, on the eastern tip of the island.
City officials said the new plant is part of a plan to help Montreal develop new green technology and create jobs.
“This site constitutes an excellent opportunity to make our metropolis a North American pioneer and a leader in the environment and clean technologies,” Coderre said.
Each Montrealer produces 514 kilograms of organic waste each year. Right now only 11 per cent is composted — the City’s goal is for 60 per cent of waste to end up in compost bins.
The new compost facility is one of four centres planned to help reduce waste in Montreal.
The City plans to set up the first three plants in the boroughs of Saint-Laurent, Lasalle and in the municipality of Montreal East. They are expected to begin operating in 2016.
The fourth facilty at the Pointe-aux-Trembles site replaces a proposed location in St-Michel, where residents fiercely opposed the plan.
Coderre said the new location in RDP—Pointe-aux-Trembles, at the corner St-Jean Baptiste Boulevard and the Metropolitan, is the perfect spot because it's one and half kilometres away from the nearest home.
“Because it's industrial and it's near the highway, it will have lesser impact on residents."
A “dumping ground”
Not everyone is happy with the City’s choice to build the composting centre in Pointe-aux-Trembles.
Suzanne Bernard is the director general of the CDC de la Pointe, a group that represents community organizations in the neighbourhood.
Bernard said the area already has oil refineries and an animal carcass processing plant. She said a composting plant will only reinforce people’s idea that the east end is a wasteland.
“The east end is the dumping ground of Montreal … We were told these facilities would be spread out evenly across boroughs,” Bernard said.
The four plants in Montreal will cost $237 million. The federal and provincial governments are putting in a total of $130 million.
The facility in Pointe-aux-Trembles is expected to open in 2020 and create about 40 jobs.
Public consultations will be held this fall.
