Northstar Clean Technologies is planning to build what it calls the first commercial facility of its kind in North America, a plant that uses its proprietary process to break down and recycle asphalt roofing shingles into its three primary components: liquid asphalt, fiber, and aggregate.
The company's Empower Calgary Facility east of downtown Calgary is expected to divert 40,000 tonnes of asphalt shingles away from local landfills per year, the equivalent of 60,000 barrels of oil.
Asphalt roofing shingles are the most popular roofing material in North America and one of the top five largest contributors to construction and demolition waste, according to Northstar. After the company's technology breaks the shingles into the three components, the liquid asphalt element can be reused to create hot mix asphalt, shingles and asphalt flat roof systems, while the aggregate and fiber components can be put to use in other construction products, according to Northstar.
The Calgary plant will be Northstar’s first commercial facility and the company is planning to build additional plants in Toronto and the United States, starting in 2025.
More Plants Needed
Northstar has not yet revealed the location of its future U.S. facility but it is looking to set up shop in the Pacific Northwest, company representative Trenton Kwan told CoStar News in an email.
Landfills across Canada and the United States are estimated to receive 16.5 million tonnes of shingles every year, which equates to over 20 million barrels of oil, according to the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturer's Association. To meet the asphalt shingle manufacturing industry's goal to divert up to 100% of landfill disposal by 2050, about 400 commercial asphalt shingle reprocessing facilities are needed in North America, Northstar said in a statement.
Northstar has completed site development and is starting construction on the Calgary plant at 285081 Wrangler Way in Rocky View County. The plant, which can process shingles from commercial or residential structures, is expected to start production next year.
Northstar signed a 15-year lease for the 175,000-square-foot industrial property earlier this year, according to a note from Northstar's CEO and president Aidan Mills. The area around Northstar's upcoming plant contains several other industrial properties, including a warehouse acquired by Dream Industrial REIT as part of its mega purchase of Summit Industrial Income REIT earlier this year.
Northstar received a little more than a CA$7 million grant from the province of Alberta for the Calgary plant, as well as a CA$8.75 million construction loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada to help fund operations.