An Organic Waste Inventory for Alberta’s Agrifood Sector (published 2015)
In 2013, Alberta was Canada’s third largest agri‐food exporter with cash receipts for primary agriculture at $8.8 billion. Agriculture remains Alberta’s second largest industry after the oil and gas sector. In 2013, Alberta’s food and beverage processing industries represented the second largest manufacturing sector in the province accounting for 16.8% or $12.6 billion of total manufactured goods ($74.8 billion).
Despite the positive growth of the agriculture and food manufacturing sector, there is limited understanding of the residues left behind. In order to support sustainable food production systems, targeting zero waste via alternative uses of agricultural waste/residues, a thorough understanding is needed of residues and wastes associated with the agricultural processing sector, the livestock sector and the grocery sector.
In order to plan and design an integrated waste management or utilization system, a developer requires accurate information on the quantity and characteristics of available waste. Alberta’s waste management and processing professionals have identified three major deficiencies in our current understanding of Alberta’s organic waste: (1) waste composition; (2) seasonal variation; and (3) geographic distribution.
The goal of this project is to create an Alberta organic waste inventory that addresses these deficiencies and can be easily accessed by diverse stakeholders; including industry and various levels of the government. This database includes information on the quality and quantity of currently available organic waste streams from Alberta’s municipal, agriculture and food processing sectors. The study focuses on four different types of waste streams in Alberta: (1) livestock manure and on-farm dead; (2) food processing waste, (3) grocery store waste, and (4) yard waste.
Gathering information on the above materials will complement existing information on other organic wastes and by-products including work that has previously done with forestry residues, crop residues and municipal solid waste.
The report will help users to: (1) identify potential sites for bioenergy projects; (2) test specific sites for the availability of potentially suitable feedstocks; and (3) test for the suitability of specific technologies given regionally available feedstocks.
See full report here.
For more information on the Organic Waste Inventory, please contact:
Victor Cheng
Senior Industry Development Officer - Clean Energy & Biorefining
Phone: (780) 638-3158
Email: victor.cheng@gov.ab.ca | | 
Alberta Agriculture & Forestry
Bio-Industrial Opportunities Section
O.S. Longman Building
4th Floor, 6909 - 116 Street
Edmonton Alberta T6H 4P2
Phone: (780) 644-8118
Email: biobranch@gov.ab.ca
Bio Processing Innovation Centre - Grand Opening and Open House
September 21, 2017
1:00 - 3:30pm
5520 - 36 Street, Edmonton, AB
Click here to register.
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