TOWNSHIP OF ESQUIMALT STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: September 29, 2025 Report No. EPW-25-016
TO: Council
FROM: Joel Clary, Director of Engineering & Public Works
SUBJECT: Integrated Resource Management Update
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
That Council direct staff to not pursue further exploration of Integrated Resource Management (IRM) in the Township and instead support a regional approach to IRM led by the CRD, as described in Staff Report No. EPW-25-016.
Body
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The purpose of this report is to provide Council with an update on the Township’s exploration of biochar testing as part of the Integrated Resource Management (IRM) project and seek direction on whether staff should proceed with testing or stop pursing IRM at this time.
BACKGROUND:
IRM is a process used to maximize resource recovery from waste. The Township has been exploring an IRM approach to managing municipal solid waste (MSW), kitchen scraps, and yard and garden waste using thermal technologies at the Public Works Yard since 2019.
At the September 25, 2023 council meeting, Council approved the following motion:
That Council postpone consideration of this matter pending receipt of a proposal for biochar testing costs and confirmation of availability of funds from the Capital Regional District to undertake this testing.
Further background can be found in the corresponding staff report EPW-23-17 from the same meeting, which includes the 2022 business case by Pivotal IRM Inc. (Pivotal), technical memo summarizing the analysis of the business case by Tetra Tech Canada Inc. (Tetra Tech), and staff concerns with the business case. Since that time, staff have confirmed that $50,000 in funding from the CRD is available to the Township to support the Township’s exploration of IRM, including to support biochar testing.
Following confirmation of funding from the CRD, staff re-engaged with Pivotal and Tetra Tech to determine the feasibility of biochar testing. Pivotal confirmed they would be able to undertake testing; whereas Tetra Tech who explored several options, could not identify any vendors or institutions with the capabilities to carry out the necessary testing. Further details on Tetra Tech’s investigation can be found in the memo in Attachment 1.
The testing Pivotal could provide would examine a sample of municipal solid waste that’s been sorted and shredded in a chipper, followed by processing of the material through other technologies (example: incineration). The resulting biochar would be sent to a laboratory to evaluate according to the International Biochar Initiative standards for biochar.
A second, more elaborate and costly option was also identified by Pivotal, involving a gasification plant in California. At the time of inquiry in summer 2024, this facility was not accepting municipal solid waste but could potentially be utilized under controlled conditions. This process would include additional sorting, drying, and shredding of the Township’s waste, followed by shipping pelletized samples to California. The approximate cost at the time of looking into this in summer 2024 was roughly over three times the cost of the laboratory testing.
Separate of the Township’s exploration of biochar testing, the Capital Regional District (CRD) continued to advance its own regional IRM efforts for biosolids management. The CRD's Long-Term Biosolids Management Strategy, which was approved in 2024, emphasizes thermal processing technologies, including pyrolysis and gasification, as key options for sustainable biosolids handling. With this work well underway and with other demands on staff time, staff awaited the results of the CRD work to understand if CRD would proceed with thermal processing before actioning any further investigations in the Township.
In June 2025, the CRD announced that it had selected Pyrocal Pty Ltd., an Australian engineering firm, as the preferred proponent for a pilot project integrating thermal processing into the region’s wastewater treatment infrastructure. This project involves converting regional biosolids into biochar using pyrolysis, and is consistent with the goals of the CRD’s long-term plan. The initiative is being undertaken as a multi-year, phased pilot, which includes:
- Testing and validation of pyrolysis technology under regional conditions;
- Monitoring the environmental and economic impacts of biochar production and use; and
- Exploring regulatory approvals and end-market viability.
This regional approach provides a structured, technically rigorous pathway to evaluate IRM technologies at a significant scale and complexity.
With the recent news from the CRD that they are proceeding with the pilot project at Hartland Landfill, Township staff are now seeking direction on next steps on the Township’s IRM initiative, if any.
ANALYSIS:
Staff have reviewed the feasibility of proceeding with IRM biochar testing and have identified several key concerns:
1. Lack of Testing Facilities in Canada
Currently, there are no facilities able to test municipal solid waste using gasification for the purposes of producing and evaluating biochar within the $50,000 budget. The only identified options involve using incineration or sending pre-processed samples at a higher cost to facilities outside of Canada that do not currently process MSW. The limited to no options for producing biochar using similar technology to what’s proposed in the Township reinforces concerns previously raised in staff report EPW-23-017, which identified advanced gasification of MSW as an unproven technology at this time.
2. Unreliability of Small-Sample Testing
Both the lower-cost lab test and the higher-cost gasification option rely on limited samples of municipal solid waste. Given the variability in MSW composition, there is a significant risk that results may not be representative. Specifically, the sample could:
• Perform unusually well, resulting in overly optimistic assumptions; or
• Perform poorly, leading to early rejection of potentially viable materials.
In either case, these outcomes would offer limited reliability for informing long-term decisions. Staff are concerned that using such results to support a business case to construct an estimated $32M facility (2022 estimate) that relies on the sale of biochar would expose the Township to significant financial risk. Moreover, staff expect the results could identify more questions resulting in more testing and validation requirements. This could set the Township down a path that is likely to far exceed the $50,000 in available CRD funding, and still may not provide sufficient certainty or return on investment.
3. Scale and Complexity Beyond Municipal Capacity
The CRD’s phased and regional approach to exploring thermal waste technologies demonstrates the significant costs, complexities, and risks involved when considering emerging technologies such as gasification or pyrolysis for managing waste. According to the CRD’s Long-term Biosolids Management Strategy, an on-site pilot project is intended to assess the viability of advanced thermal technology as an option for long-term biosolids management. The estimated cost of this pilot project in 2023 was between $5 million and $10 million. The cost of the work the CRD is doing reflects the order of magnitude that staff expect to be needed when considering emerging technologies, which far exceed the $50,000 available.
It is also important to note that the CRD’s pilot project is focused on biosolids, which are a more homogeneous and regulated feedstock than municipal solid waste. Thermal technologies are more established for biosolids processing, while the application of gasification or pyrolysis to process MSW remains largely untested. To date, no jurisdiction in Canada has successfully implemented this technology for combined MSW, as described in the memo by Tetra Tech in Attachment 1.
Given the identified risks, the limited testing options available to produce meaningful results, and the substantial costs involved in pursuing further exploration of IRM, staff recommend not proceeding with IRM biochar testing at this time. Although the CRD has allocated $50,000 to support the Township’s exploration of this, staff believe this amount is insufficient to meaningfully advance the project or address the core concerns identified in this and previous reports.
Instead, staff recommend that the Township continue to monitor the CRD’s pilot project and consider supporting future opportunities that may arise from a regional approach to thermal waste processing, particularly if the scope expands to include other waste streams such as MSW.
OPTIONS:
1. That Council direct staff to not pursue further exploration of Integrated Resource Management (IRM) in the Township and instead support a regional approach to IRM led by the CRD, as described in Staff Report EPW-25-016.
2. That Council direct staff to continue to pursue biochar testing up to $50,000.
3. That Council provide alternative direction to staff.
4. That Council request further information from staff.
COUNCIL PRIORITY:
Climate Resilience & Environmental Stewardship
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
As described throughout this report, there is $50,000 available from the CRD for the Township to continue exploring IRM, but the costs to continue to explore this are expected to be significantly higher than this.
COMMUNICATIONS/ENGAGEMENT:
No recent community engagement has been completed for this.
TIMELINES & NEXT STEPS:
Should Council direct staff to continue with testing biochar, staff will seek updated costs and timelines from the necessary vendors and/or consultants.
REPORT REVIEWED BY:
1. Kristi Bilodeau, Acting Director of Finance, Reviewed
2. Deb Hopkins, Director of Corporate Services, Reviewed
3. Dan Horan, Chief Administrative Officer, Concurrence
LIST OF ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 - Tetra Tech Memo