City of Montreal | The Ash King Leaves His Throne

The contents of the toilet bowls of 2 million Montrealers end up every day in the only dump in the city, which does not emit the slightest odor. Its boss is retiring today, after 20 years of managing the result of the digestion of an entire city.

“Welcome to my sandbox,” says André Vezeau, right next to the old Montreal East rock quarry. He has been responsible for it since it was completely transformed into a landfill in 2003.

Sandbox? Ashbox, rather. At the bottom of the immense hole, five to seven semi-trailers come every day to dump what remains of the “sanitary sludge” incinerated at the City of Montreal’s wastewater treatment plant, five kilometres to the east. After being heated to 850°C, the finished product is odourless and looks like brown sand.

André Vezeau slides some between his fingers without reluctance. “But I’m going to wash my hands before eating,” he says, laughing. “It doesn’t decompose, it doesn’t give off gas.”

The official supervises the ballet of the huge mining trucks – which now fill the hole rather than empty it. Bulldozers spread the ash “so that the floor is stable and solid”. From the top of the quarry, they look like small mechanical toys. “I was always a little guy who loved trucks, so I am happy as a king,” says the site guard rightly.

Under their wheels: a dozen meters of ashes, accumulated over the last 20 years. Overhanging: a hundred meters of storage space still vacant. “We have 100 years of this,” assures André Vezeau.

“Fertili Ashes”

Maybe even more than 100 years. Since 2016, Montreal has been trying to send an increasing share of its sanitary ash – rich in phosphorus – to farmers’ fields. The product has “received its registration from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,” but can only be used to fertilize crops intended for animal feed.

“We are replacing chemical fertilizers,” explains Carole Fleury, a microbiologist at the Water Department. “It’s much more ecological.”

Montreal hopes to be able to send two-thirds of the ash coming out of its treatment plant to the fields by 2028, under the name “Fertili Cendres”. Then, the share would increase to 80% in 2030.

In recent years, its success rate has been between 9% and 26%. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, two countries that produce a lot of agricultural fertilizers, has shaken up this market in recent years.

These ecological efforts are not free: Montreal pays companies “so that they can use the ashes for recycling,” continues M^me Fleury. About $100 to $200 per 30-ton truck. Farmers also have to pay if they want ashes.

In addition to agricultural use, the ashes can be used to “decontaminate soil, restore mining sites and amend soil,” the City explains.

“Holy cursed peace”

At 62, André Vezeau will however leave these projects to his successors.

“I’ve been thinking about retirement for at least two years,” and the decision was made “in December last year,” he says. He says with a laugh: “I’m retiring on July 3, so July 4 is my independence day!”

Behind him, the rainy days working outside. Behind him, the problems of clearing snow from the winding mine roads that lead down to the bottom of the hole and the semi-trailers that get stuck in the too-wet ash.

Behind him, too, was the satisfaction of managing the largest sandbox in Montreal. Mr. Vezeau was a white-collar union member, but he was the real boss in the kingdom of ashes.

“The fun is here,” he said, pointing to the machinery sloshing away at the bottom of the old quarry. “You have holy, bloody peace when you come here. Anything that’s operational, I don’t ask anyone’s permission, it’s my operations.”

He also didn’t ask anyone’s permission to leave. André Vezeau leaves his job in a good mood, with retirement plans in his head. The king of ashes abdicates before being burned.