GFL wins inaugural W2RO Industry Innovation Award

GFL is excited to announce that a proposal to construct a first-of-its-kind thermal treatment recycling facility in Hamilton, Ontario, recently won the inaugural 2024 Waste to Resource Ontario (W2RO) Industry Innovation Award.

This new annual award recognizes a W2RO member organization for their innovative ideas and techniques that impact projects which will improve the quality of waste and recycling services in Ontario (collection, delivery, processing or operations).

GFL won the award for its proposal, in partnership with Cobric Chemicals Inc., to construct and operate the thermal treatment system at its Brant Street facility where electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) will be recycled to recover zinc and other metals. EAFD is part of the waste stream created during steel manufacturing.

“Currently, there are no zinc recycling facilities for this particular waste stream in Canada,” said Todd Smith, GFL’s vice president, Projects. “This new technology positions GFL as a leader in the recycling of zinc and other metals from the steel manufacturing waste stream.”

The facility is just over a mile away from one of the largest steel manufacturing companies in Ontario.

The facility will use high temperature metal recovery (HTMR) technology, or thermal treatment, to separate zinc and lead from the EAFD produced by steel mills and prepare it for reuse.

The EAFD is heated up until the metal becomes volatile and then it’s condensed back down into zinc oxide which can be smelted into zinc ingots, contributing to a circular economy.

Recycling EAFD has many benefits for the environment.

Besides reducing the need for landfill space and the potential for leaching chemicals into the soil and water, greenhouse gas emissions will also be cut as long-distance hauling of the waste will no longer be required.

“The use of virgin material will be minimized as the amount of mining associated with steel production will be reduced,” said Rich Lagani, GFL’s EH&S manager, Environmental Compliance. “Instead of the traditional disposal model, it provides steel mills with a local alternative to recycle one of their largest waste streams.”

It took about four years from concept to reality to go through a comprehensive review process with the Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to get the revised permit for Brant Street.

During this time, GFL undertook extensive environmental consultations and held two public outreach sessions with industry experts, the public and Indigenous communities.

“We hired a number of third party consultants to do a variety of studies including surface and groundwater, air and noise, and socioeconomic studies,” Lagani said.

Construction on the facility is wrapping up and it’s scheduled to open in the fall of 2024.

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