Montreal council approves $175M compost plant for Saint-Laurent borough

Montreal's city council has approved the construction of a $175-million compost plant that will be constructed in an industrial sector of the Saint-Laurent borough.

It will be the first compost plant on the island of Montreal.

If all goes as planned, the new composting plant should be up and running by September 2021 at the intersection of Henri-Bourassa Boulevard West and Valiquette Street.

The contract was awarded to Suez Environment, based in France, after a divided vote Tuesday morning. While 35 councillors approved the contract, 21 voted against.

Opposition councillors and suburban mayors have asked that the contract's approval be delayed for further study.

The Association of Suburban Municipalities, which represents 15 of the island's municipalities, has estimated that partnered municipalities will be expected to pay some $30 million of the total cost, and the group wanted more time to examine the plan.

"It's a lot of money," said the association's president, Montreal West Mayor Beny Masella, after presenting his case to the Montreal council on Monday. 

However, Coun. Jean-François Parenteau, the executive committee member in charge of citizen services, said the City of Montreal has already waited long enough.

Project long in the planning stage

Plans for the a total of five compost plants began under the Tremblay administration in 2010 and, Parenteau said, there has been plenty of time to review the plans.

"There will be no postponement," he said Monday.

But the opposition says plans for the five plants are moving too fast, and it wants to understand more about why costs are significantly higher than first forecast. 

The total projected cost, initially pegged at $344 million, now stands at $589 million — more than 50 per cent higher than the initial estimate.

"It's like asking us to build a third floor before we have laid the foundations," said Coun. Francesco Miele — a Saint-Laurent councillor who led the charge against the contract's approval on behalf of Ensemble Montréal.

"That does not make any sense."

New laws, new plan added to cost

New provincial laws regulating odours added to the costs, said Coun. Émilie Thuillier, vice-chair of the city's contract review committee.

Thuiller also said officials have chosen to entrust the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the future plant to a single bidder rather than splitting these responsibilities into several contracts, as usual. This, she explained, made for imprecise estimates.

Many Montrealers are already expected to toss their leftovers and other organic waste into a brown bin that is then collected curbside by the city.

But it isn't treated locally. It is sent off to Saint-Thomas, Que., in the Lanaudière region. Advocates say burning diesel to transport the waste is not only costly, but counter-productive when it comes to bettering the environment.

Residents oppose plant

The compost plant is the largest infrastructure contract to be approved since the infamous $356-million water-meter contract, which was cancelled in 2009 and led to a decade of corruption allegations, resignations and court battles.

In September, residents of Saint-Laurent and surrounding neighbourhoods protested against the planned compost plant.

They expressed concerns about truck congestion on already busy roadways like Highway 40 and Henri-Bourassa Boulevard. They also said they were worried about the smell.

Back then, city spokesperson Philippe Sabourin said the treatment plant would be enclosed and the waste would be kept inside. The trucks, he said, will be properly cleaned before leaving the plant.