London-based company tapped to run city’s new green bin program

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A London-based waste management business has grown across Canada and now, is planning a massive biofuel plant in York Region.

But winning the contract for London’s green bin program that will start in early 2024 is special for Convertus. The company’s headquarters are on Commissioners Road and it has a processing plant on Wellington Road.

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A few years ago, when Convertus was known as Orgaworld, it was swamped with odour complaints about the plant that was taking in green bin refuse at the time from Toronto, Vaughan and St. Thomas and chief executive Mike Leopold vowed change.

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Landing the deal to pick up and process organic food waste in its hometown starting Jan. 15, is change realized, he said.

“It represents a meaningful step,” Leopold said Monday.

“From a volume perspective, this is not our biggest contract, but it means a lot. We worked very hard to establish our company as trusted and responsible and this is the embodiment of that.”

London city council is expected Tuesday to approve the Jan. 15 start date for the green bin program that will bring weekly pickup of household food waste and recycling while pushing garbage collection to once every two weeks.

London’s green bins are expected to generate 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes of organic waste annually and cost $5 million year to operate, with $15 million in start-up costs.

“It is exciting we now have a date,” for when the program will start, said Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman, chair of the city’s civic works committee that supported staff report headed to council.

Leopold joined Orgaworld in 2017 and said “it was not a well-respected brand in London . . . we invested a lot,” to change that.

He added staff to implement more rigorous odour screening programs and added better technology, including an odour abatement system, ammonia scrubbers and a cooling system that reduced the smell of organic waste.

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In 2017, Orgaworld had 250 odour complaints. Last year Convertus had five. This year, there have been none to date.

“In my first few months here, the ministry stepped in, there were so many odour complaints,” Leopold said. “I thought ‘We cannot continue down this path.’ We’ve taken a huge step.”

It has also grown. Orgaworld had two sites in 2017. After Orgaworld was bought by other businesses in a series of acquisitions, it became Convertus in 2019.  Convertus, after acquiring two other waste management businesses, has 14 sites across Canada and the U.S. It recently landed a deal to process 200,000 tonnes of waste into natural gas for York Region.

“We are over the moon about that,” Leopold said.

In London Convertus will process food waste, non-recyclable and soiled paper, cooking oils and grease and household plants. The green bins will go to 121,000 homes in London, including apartments and townhouses. Residents will receive a 45-litre green bin and seven-litre kitchen container.

Pet waste and diapers still will go into the garbage.

“I am so happy we are finally at almost the end point for getting this started,” Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow said at the committee meeting. “We have a framework we can work with.”

As for garbage pickup, the three container limit will remain. The city will limit large item collection, anything bigger than a kitchen chair, to four items and that pickup has to be booked in advance, starting in October.

ndebono@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/NormatLFPress

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