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State-of-the-art landfill |
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A proud André Laflèche looked over his landfill site and said it defies stereotypes. "I'll pay $10 if anyone can find a seagull," said Laflèche during the official opening Friday of the Eastern Ontario BioReactor Landfill, located north of Moose Creek, on Laflèche Road. Laflèche is president and founder of Laflèche Environmental and he first began thinking of innovative ways to handle waste after seeing a television documentary in 1973 about waste problems in Europe. Brian Coburn, Ontario's Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, praised Laflèche for his vision and persistence. He said the site will help the environment as well as provide numerous other benefits. It sounds too good to be true but André Laflèche is making it happen. Laflèche said the site is built with the latest in environmental safeguards and even has the potential once it's further developed to provide enough methane gas to provide electricity for at least 50 homes for more than 50 years. The gas will be produced as waste material decomposes. The site covers 210 hectares with a fill area of 66 hectares. It's licensed to handle 200,000 tonnes of waste a year, and currently handles 40,000 tonnes. Ten million dollars have been invested already and, as the site expands, Laflèche expects a further $100 million investment. He's confident the firm will be a profitable one. It's been in operation since January and he expects to be in a break-even position by next spring. The firm has already signed contracts with municipalities throughout eastern Ontario to accept their waste. Ten-year contracts have been signed with Brockville, Prescott and East Hawkesbury. Twenty-year contracts have been inked with North Glengarry, Casselman and Nation townships.
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