Sustane Technologies CEO Peter Vinall in his plant in Chester. - HandoutThe Sustane Technologies plant in Chester has begun producing liquid fuel with its technology that uses curbside garbage as a raw material.
“The whole process in Chester is based on a concept out of Spain. I met this fellow in Spain about eight years ago, and he had come up with a method of cooking garbage,” Vinall said. “When I saw it, I was convinced that was the pathway … because garbage is about 50 per cent biogenic, paper and cardboard and things like that. You can’t easily separate garbage; plastic is through everything and it’s very difficult to separate.
“Why Chester? Big cities weren’t interested in new technologies and change, so I focused on Nova Scotia,” he said. “Halifax, HRM waste is pretty much tied up for a long time in contracts, so I just started looking around. Little old Chester, which has a very large landfill that services the southern end of the province, stepped up and said, ‘We’re good for this.’”