Banff looks to cash in on organic waste

Banffis looking to turn its organic waste into a product it can sell.

The picturesque mountain town has been turning its food scraps and water treatment plant waste into compost for the last 15 years, but it wasn't being used.

Banff, which islocated west of Calgary,now plans to mix it with dust from Exshaw's cement and lime plants, which used to be sent to the landfill, to create fertilizer that can be sold. The system was developed by an Ontario company called N-Viro Systems.

"We take any organic waste, whether it comesout of a wastewater treatment plant or comes off akitchen table, andwe blend it with an alkaline material thatcomes out of, in this particular case, the cement industry," saidRob Sampson with N-Viro Systems.

"Whenwe mix thetwo it creates a fertilizer product."

The fertilizer can then be used for farms and gardens. Banff will produce about 5,000 tonnes a year, all ofwhich has already been pre-sold to a landscaper.

The town is paying $1.6 million to retrofit its 15-year-old composting plant. Once that's paid off, the town expects to start turning a profit.

"We can't think of a greener product where we're taking what is deemed to be waste product, blending them together and having a viable reused product," said thetown's operation managerPaul Godfrey.

The plant should be up and running by the end of January.