Canadian City Pumps Up New Recycling Center

A recycling center that will target paper recycling services, being built at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, will use the concept of a geodesic dome. The innovative paper recycling center design, developed, owned and operated by Greys Paper Recycling, is expected to be complete by the beginning of next year.

photos of Greys Recycling's glass recycling center.

A smaller dome, which handles glass recycling, already is in operation. The glass collected at the facility is recycled into interlocking paving bricks.

When complete, the two domes will cover around 60,000 square feet. They are located on seven acres in the city’s Clover Bar Waste Management Centre.

The white dome, which has an outermost layer made of fabric, will feature R-60 insulation; will use solar sun pipes for most of its lighting; and incorporate both solar power and methane energy from waste materials for its heating. When inflated, the dome being built to handle paper recycling operations will be around 50,000 square feet (about 252 feet in diameter and 84 feet high). The glass recycling dome is roughly 10,000 square feet (about 110 feet in diameter and 54 feet high). The two domes will be connected by a cylindrical office block.

The company says that the size of the dome for the paper recycling operation makes it one of the largest of its type in the world.

"You see paper being made every day and being thrown out and you have to cut more and more trees to get more paper," says Rajan Ahluwalia, CEO of Greys Paper Recycling Industries, the company in charge of the new recycling plant. "You don't need to cut any more trees."

“My company was attracted to Edmonton because we think our plant is a good fit for a waste management centre with so many innovative waste processing facilities,” Ahluwalia adds. “We’re proud of our partnership with the City of Edmonton.”

Edmonton will provide Greys with paper collected at 82 city offices and facilities. The company is currently collecting paper for processing once the facility is operational.

The domes being built by Greys Recycling are the first for the company. The company hopes that once the facilities are complete and operational, there can be opportunities to license the model to other cities throughout North America.

 To view a short videoclip of the dome being inflated, click here --> Greys Recycling Dome.