This text is part of the special Energy Transition section
If Quebec is banking on the energy transition to achieve its decarbonization objectives, we must also think about the management of new types of waste generated during the process. The solutions involve circularity, according to experts.
In 2021, the energy transition in Quebec had already generated around 4,000 tonnes of future waste, according to Recyc-Québec. At the rate things are going, the state-owned company estimates that this quantity could reach 142,000 tonnes in 2030, then more than 296,000 tonnes in 2050, coming from the wind energy (49%) and electric mobility sectors. (47%), solar energy and green hydrogen. This will mainly involve concrete and aluminum in very large quantities, ferrous metals as well as critical and strategic minerals (copper, zinc, nickel, lithium and graphite, in particular).
“The transition is happening quickly and we will have very large volumes to manage,” warns Isabelle Moïse, director of operations at Recyc-Québec. In a vast study published in 2022, the state corporation recommended the implementation of sustainable waste management strategies that take into account the lifespan of different materials and different technologies. If electric vehicle batteries and charging stations have a lifespan of around ten years, that of wind farms can reach 25 years and that of solar panels, 30 years. The first wind farms installed in the province at the end of the 1990s are approaching the end of their life, but they are currently neither recycled nor reused. In Quebec, wind turbine blades, made of composite materials that are difficult to recycle, end up in landfills.
Get inspired from elsewhere
Mme Moïse believes that Quebec could draw inspiration from the solutions emerging in Europe. In Denmark and the Netherlands, for example, certain wind turbine blades at the end of their life are transformed into street furniture: public benches, bicycle shelters, modules for children. In France and Germany, they are sometimes refurbished and then returned to the market. The German-Spanish company Siemens Gamesa, for its part, launched the first fully recyclable wind turbine blade in 2021. In Germany again, it is now prohibited to bury composite materials and, since 2022, France has imposed compulsory recycling of at least 90% of the total mass of each dismantled wind turbine as well as a minimum of 35% for rotors. , of which the blades are a part.
Quebec, for its part, has not put in place any comparable incentive. Anne-Marie Boulay, associate professor at Polytechnique Montréal and general director of the International Reference Center for Life Cycle Analysis and Sustainable Transition, emphasizes the importance of thinking upstream by using materials that are more easily recyclable.
According to the expert, the linear economy is outdated. “The energy transition must go through circularity strategies,” she says. The life cycle analysis then helps us choose the best option. Do we want to recycle? Revalue? Reuse? Fix ? »
Isabelle Moïse agrees. Not only for the obvious environmental benefits, but also for the economic benefits that the circular economy can generate. “It creates new businesses and new markets. Reusing our own materials drives our economy and not that of others. It’s a gold mine,” she believes.
Business advantage
In the battery sector, the Quebec company Lithion offers to recycle materials from lithium-ion batteries, and the mining company Nouveau Monde Graphite has signed a collaboration agreement with it to consider the possibilities of recycling its graphite. The latter is already planning to dig its mine gradually and restore and reforest the area gradually.
“We have an environmental team on site every day who takes water readings and collects data on native species for environmental restoration,” says communications director Julie Paquet. Yes, graphite is a non-renewable resource, but we try to exploit it responsibly. »
New ways of doing things which have an economic cost, obviously, but which also have advantages, says Mme Pack. “When I present my life cycle analysis in front of my clients, it is very attractive for them. It’s a great business benefit to have put in this effort. »
Earlier this year, the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks unveiled its new Government Roadmap for the Circular Economy 2024-2028, announcing in particular a change in the management of residual materials . “There is clearly a government will,” admits Isabelle Moïse, while adding that there is still a lot of work to be done.
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