Ecowaste Open House and Tour

From 2006 to 2021, SYLVIS worked with Ecowaste Industries Ltd. to develop, implement, and operate innovative methods of landfill leachate management, utilizing natural biological processes. One of the results of this work is a soil-plant phytoremediation system capable of reducing the levels of environmentally harmful constituents in the leachate to levels significantly below the discharge limits outlined in the landfill’s operational certificate.

Ecowaste has conducted annual on-site public open houses since 2012. The overall goal of the open houses is to increase the public awareness about the work carried out at the site and highlight Ecowaste’s environmental sustainability efforts. These events also provide SYLVIS with an opportunity to showcase the soil-plant phytoremediation system to the local community and present information about the potential use of products that are traditionally labeled as “wastes” (such as biosolids, dredge sand, and pulp and paper residuals) in building biological treatment systems.

At the open houses, SYLVIS educated the public through educational posters, interactive displays, and held a tour of the operational leachate treatment initiatives. Through this opportunity, community members of all ages were able to learn more about the environmental initiatives being completed at the landfill and to understand how landfills no longer function to only accept waste in a unidirectional way, but are places where residuals can be utilized for landfill closure operations. By participating in the Ecowaste open houses, SYLVIS increased the level of knowledge associated with residuals management and facilitated public awareness regarding operational remediation systems that can be developed through the innovative use of residuals.