New landfill gas collection system now online at Winnipeg's Brady Road Resource Management Facility

Winnipeg, MB - A new gas collection system that will significantly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases at the City of Winnipeg's Brady Road Resource Management Facility is now operational, Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh and Mayor Sam Katz announced today.

�We contributed more than $2.5 million for the construction of this new collection and treatment system that will lower the amount of greenhouse gas released into the environment,� said Mackintosh. �Now that this system is up and running, it will help further reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Manitoba.�

The new system will capture and treat landfill gases, which are produced when organic waste decomposes. The gases are mostly made up of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. In terms of its global warming potential, methane gas is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Under The Climate Change Emissions Reduction Act, the City of Winnipeg was required to develop a landfill gas collection system at the Brady Road Resource Management Facility.

�The City is pleased to partner with the Province of Manitoba to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions coming from the Brady Road Resource Management Facility,� said Mayor Sam Katz. �With the City's contribution of $4.5 million, we join more than 64 facilities across Canada in recovering landfill gas and helping to reduce our nation's total greenhouse gas emissions. Our goal is to not only recover the gas from the landfill but to be able to use it in the future for building heat or electrical generation.�

Between 2000 and 2011, Manitoba's population grew by 9.6 per cent, the economy grew by 78 per cent and greenhouse-gas emissions were reduced by seven per cent, the biggest reduction in western Canada.

�We've taken strong action to lower greenhouse gas emissions in Manitoba, and this new system will help us make further reductions,� said Mackintosh. �Starting this fall, the International Institute for Sustainable Development will be leading a public consultation process to support the development of a new plan to further reduce greenhouse gases.�

The minister noted the new system supports the implementation of TomorrowNow - Manitoba's Green Plan, an eight-year plan guiding provincial investments and initiatives to build a green economy while protecting the environment.

More information on TomorrowNow is available at:
www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/tomorrownowgreenplan/