The Plasco meeting scheduled for Jan. 28 at the Red Deer County office was cancelled as the Central Waste Management Commission waits on a decision from the federal government regarding funding for the proposed garbage gasification plant.The Green Infrastructure Fund grant is worth about $17 million and the approval of the grant would help to provide an alternative for garbage landfills, said Curtis Herzberg, Red Deer County manager and acting CAO for the commission.ìAs someone who has worked in municipalities for a number of years, I hate putting garbage in the ground,î said Herzberg.The commission includes representatives from Red Deer County, City of Red Deer, Innisfail, Penhold, Bowden, Elnora, Delburne, Sylvan Lake, and Blackfalds.The commission was initially formed to try to find an alternative solution to landfills for garbage disposal and the Plasco project is the first solution that has been looked at in depth.If the funding is not approved, it is likely the project will not be able to go forward, and although this would cause a setback, Herzberg said, it would not be the end of the commission.ìIf this is not successful I am confident we would continue to work together and look for other opportunities to reduce the need for landfills.îOnce the commission gets a response from the government it will meet with Plasco representatives to determine the next steps for the project.Plasco will also be doing an information session with members regarding specifics of how the gasification plant will work, as only two out of the nine current commission representatives were part of the commission before the municipal elections in October.The project is expected to cost close to $120 million, but once it is completed the plant will be able to turn garbage from the commission's municipalities into electricity.The process includes extracting methane gas from organic waste, such as that found in landfills, and using it to generate electricity.The plant will be able to process a maximum of 400 tonnes of garbage a day but will be contracted to process about 300 tonnes a day. Revenue for the plant will come from the electricity it is able to put on the Alberta grid.The gasification plant will be built at the Horn Hill Waste Transfer Site, located just east of Penhold.
