Lachine sorting center: improvements still far from the required standards

A few months after experiencing major recycling problems, Montreal managed to improve the performance of its Lachine sorting center, but still falls far short of North American standards.

The City of Montreal had paid a high price for this sorting center which was to be “the most modern and the most technologically advanced in Quebec”, according to Mayor Valérie Plante.

But the problems have followed since the opening in 2019 of this center paid $ 53 million. With the warehouses close to overflowing, the company responsible for managing the site, Ricova, had its contract withdrawn by the City last September.

The VIA Company regained control of operations a month later. More than three years after the opening of the center, progress is only beginning to be felt.

The contamination rate of recycled paper has just fallen below the 10% threshold, explained Jean-Sébastien Daigle, President and CEO of Société VIA.

“When the transition with Ricova was made, we were with contamination rates which were more than 30%. We have divided by three in a few months finally”, underlined Arnaud Budk, director of the management of residual materials of the City.

However, this rate remains well above the contamination standards, which are set at 3% in North America.

“Below 10%, customers are able to accept it. In an ideal world, we would need contaminants around 5% or below, then we are on the way to reaching it, ”put Mr. Daigle into perspective.

Ricova was cheating the City

Recall that in addition to its poor performance for sorting recycling, the waste giant Ricova was also targeted by an investigation by the Office of Inspector General (BIG) of the City of Montreal in 2022.

According to the BIG, Ricova did not share all the revenue from the sale of recyclable materials with the City as it was supposed to and would have cheated Montreal for more than a million dollars.

The inspector asked the City to terminate Ricova’s two sorting contracts, but for the time being, only that of Lachine has been terminated, in favor of VIA.

Ricova therefore still operates the sorting center in Saint-Michel, in the east of Montreal. The company has also announced that it has reached a contamination rate of 2% with the acquisition of six optical sorters. This is a private investment of $6 million.

“The investments made by the operator have paid off. We will be able to see in the coming months if this performance is sustainable,” reacted Marie-Andrée Mauger, head of the environment on the executive committee.

More repairs to come

Upon arrival, VIA had to focus on training sorters. But she also had to repair a lot of equipment, which is only a few years old.

“We have done a lot of repairs since we arrived,” admitted Mr. Daigle.

The work is not finished, however, since the glass sorting machine, which took several years to finally be installed, is still down. It should resume service shortly once the ordered parts arrive.

The center must continue to adapt to the increase in the number of materials to be recycled due to the pandemic. For example, the surge in online orders has increased the amount of boxes to be processed.

“A sorting center is never perfect, it depends on the incoming material. It was well designed for the incoming material of 2017, today it requires adjustments,” said Mr. Daigle.

Paper bale contamination rate:

• September (Ricova operator): 29.2% contamination

• October (Ricova operator): 36.4% contamination

• October (VIA operator): 9.9% contamination

• November (VIA operator): 12.9% contamination

• December (VIA operator): 9% contamination