A new $7-million expansion to the Nanaimo Organic Waste facility in Duke Point promises to dramatically speed up the process of turning organic materials, such food scraps and yard waste, into compost. The recently completed expansion includes new compost tunnels, which were developed in the Netherlands and use a process called "in-vessel composting." In-vessel composting reduces the amount of time it takes for organic materials to break down into compost, from 10 to 12 months to just 15 days. In a ribbon cutting event Monday, Convertus, the company which operates the compost facility, said the new Dutch technology can nearly triple its compost capacity per year, from 20,000 tonnes to 58,000. The facility currently composts waste from the entire Regional District of Nanaimo as well as the City of Nanaimo, but operators say they can now serve the majority of Vancouver Island. "We feel that this is kind of the next generation for all of Vancouver Island," said Michael Leopold, CEO of Convertus Group. "We would welcome obviously the Comox Valley as well as the Victoria CRD region to come here," he said. The new upgrades make it the largest composting facility on the island. The expansion has been up and running for about a month now and the company has reported no issues to date.
