The groundbreaking ceremony at the 2Point0 facility in Coaldale. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Groundbreaking ceremony for innovative waste facility in Coaldale

Apr 12, 2022 | 2:23 PM

COALDALE, AB – Coaldale will soon have a new way of processing waste and recycling.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday morning for startup company 2Point0’s new facility in Coaldale.

Partner Tyler Beaulieu says this is merely the beginning of their ambitious plans to process waste in better ways.

“We believe that, as audacious as it sounds, that we’ve found a solution where we can seriously start to get away from landfilling as the number one solution to the problems of waste within communities, and we get to do it here first in our own backyard with people we know, people who believe in us to do it. Our never-ending goal here is to make the future better.”

The most important part, he adds, is that it will be as environmentally-conscious as possible.

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“It’s a carbon-negative facility. It will run similarly to a landfill but will actually capture carbon, so it’s already cleaner in that regard. Secondly, it’s a net-zero building – it will generate its own power and its own heat, again, using different materials and what we call resources. We don’t call it ‘waste’ anymore.”

An immediate change residents of Coaldale will be able to notice once the facility is operational is the wider array of products that can be put into their blue bins.

Beaulieu says, for the first time, you will be able add glass to your curbside pickup bins, as well as types one to seven plastics.

Using a variety of processes, 2Point0 will then turn their “resources” into a range of products that can be used in farms and elsewhere, and generate clean energy that will be sold back to the Town of Coaldale.

The company will also take over operations of the town’s landfill.

Cameron Mills, Director of Growth & Investment with the Town of Coaldale, says he is excited for what 2Point0 will bring to the community.

“The 2Point0 facility represents, for us, the opportunity to provide a broader range of services to our residents, allowing them to put more of their waste in the blue bins, divert more waste from landfill, while also providing us with a more permanent yard waste site, which is a service our residents are very much looking forward to, and also the opportunity to provide green energy to power some of our most significant and high-consumption infrastructure.”

Mayor Jack Van Rijn says this project “Will not only improve our overall service delivery, but will help to ensure that goods collected as part of our blue bin program are truly diverted from the landfill.”

In 2020, Coaldale residents produced around 1.1 million pounds of recycling waste, 2.5 million pounds of organics, and 3.3 million pounds of garbage.

The facility is expected to open this summer.

You can learn more about the company on 2Point0’s website.

Concept art of the completed facility. (2Point0)