RC105 MarApr2023 - Magazine - Page 27
of the Demix quarry where the new soil treatment plant
is located—and turn it into a car-free zone with a park, a
lake, research centres, stores and other features, including
tourist attractions.
Promoted by Laval and backed by the Quebec government to the tune of $10 million, the carbon-neutral project
would also include residential housing and schools and
become a downtown core for the city, which is Montreal’s
largest suburb.
On its website, the city says it intends to make Carré
Laval, which could ostensibly open before the end of the
decade, a “diversified environment on a human scale
where people can live, work and have fun seven days a
week, winter and summer alike.”
Meanwhile, output from the new soil treatment plant
continues apace to help Demix meet its obligations to
remediate its quarry in Laval.
Under the terms of its ground-breaking agreement
with Englobe, the latter leases the location where its treatment pad is located and operates the site with its own
equipment, materials and manpower.
According to Côté, soil characterizations are carried
out both before and after materials are loaded onto trucks
and carried to the treatment facility. “We determine the
type and level of contaminants and pile it accordingly,”
he says. “Those characterizations are the benchmarks we
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use to calculate the end of the decontamination process.”
The soil cleaning process, he added, is 100 per cent
natural. “We blow in air to wake up the bacteria that’s
already in the soil and that will degrade the contaminants that are present there, and we mix and add soils
to allow that process to begin and continue,” says Côté.
“We also capture the air and water in order to catch any
contaminants that are emitted. We control the entire
process from A to Z.”
The decontamination process, he adds, creates some
heat and results in rising temperatures. “That tells us the
bacteria is doing its job,” says Côté. The process works
best he says during the warmer months from spring to
fall. “It’s very slow during the cold winter months, so we
don’t start piles then,” he says. “So far things are working
perfectly, according to plan.”
For his part, Garant says his company is now looking
at other possible sites in and around Montreal where it
could deploy the new soil treatment facility model with
Englobe.
The new facility is turning heads and garnering attention from many quarters, including divisions within CHR
Canada. “Soil management is highly regulated, and the
rules are different in every province,” says Côté. “But
there are people in our company in Ontario in particular
who are very interested in our new model.”
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