Unlike other large waste management companies with head offices around the world, Claystone is a locally owned corporation. The only people who profit from our operations are the five municipalities and their residents.

Claystone Waste Ltd. is a Municipally Controlled Corporation (MCC), which is a private corporation with municipalities as the shareholders.  These types of MCCs are usually formed to provide a service or benefit to residents, including waste management. 

Unlike municipally run landfills or regional commissions, MCCs are allowed to make a profit. In the case of Claystone Waste Ltd., our shareholders are the Towns of Tofield and Viking, the Villages of Ryley and Holden, and Beaver County. Profits from Claystone’s operations are distributed to the municipal shareholders in the form of cash and services each year.

Municipalities, hospitals and care facilities, educational institutions, and larger organizations across Alberta, Canada, and around the world are adopting compost programs that separate food waste from other waste for three main reasons:

• It reduces the amount of food waste going into a landfill, extending the life of the landfill.
• It is better for the environment as composted material becomes nutrient rich soil that can be reused.
• Removing organics from other waste reduces greenhouse gases produced in landfills.

Adding a composting facility gave us the ability to take in the organics and turn it into compost, which can be used for residential, commercial, and agricultural purposes. 

From a business perspective, adding composting to our services helps lengthen the life span of our landfill plus we generate revenue from the organics being dropped off and for selling the completed compost. This revenue becomes part of the dividends we pay each year to our five shareholder municipalities.

There are two jurisdictions that provide approval and oversight of landfills and composting facilities: municipal and provincial. 

Municipalities govern land use through the Land Use Bylaw. From a municipal perspective, Claystone Waste Ltd. operates a Class 2 landfill within the “Landfill and Composting District – LC” of the Beaver County Land Use Bylaw. Activities permitted in this district include composting, extensive agriculture, landfills, recycling, renewable and alternate energy, solar farms, and more. 

The Province of Alberta through the Alberta Environment and Protection Agency (AEPA) governs the environmental aspects of waste facilities. Here is more information on the management of landfills in Alberta including composting facilities as part of landfill operations: Waste facilities | Alberta.ca 

Claystone, as a Class 2 landfill that has been in operation for 30 years, already had approval from AEPA to start a composting program for up to 20,000 tonnes per year. As composting is a permitted use in the Beaver County Land Use Bylaw, public consultation was not required to add composting to our operations. In September 2022, we announced the construction of a 20,000 tonne compost facility.  

As we started to design our compost facility, we did an analysis of the need for composting in the region to ensure what we were building could meet the initial demand. From this assessment, we realized we would need to expand our facility to consider up to 40,000 tonnes per year.  

In the fall of 2022, Claystone submitted an application to AEPA for approval to expand our composting capacity at the Ryley site beyond 20,000 tonnes.   

Claystone held a public information session in November 2022 to provide the public with more information regarding the project. This session was advertised in local newspapers and on social media and shared with the CAOs of the five shareholder municipalities. Claystone also engaged the members of the Public Advisory Committee to provide information on the project.

We also posted information and updates on our website and invited members of the public to share their concerns with us as well as with Beaver County.

The County only received two concerns regarding the potential for odour.

A public notice was put in both the Tofield Mercury and the Viking Weekly Review on November 8, 2023.  In April 2024, we announced the expansion of our composting facilities. 

• Facility design: our facility was designed to use static pile technology that includes aeration with blowers that push air into the piles. This helps keep the oxygen levels higher and the compost decomposing in an aerobic state.

• Compost management: the design considerations along with the following techniques also help mitigate odour issues: 
  • When a new batch of organics comes in, we check moisture content, bulk density, and pH levels. Materials are mixed with a bulking agent, which allows oxygen to flow through the material being composted.
  • We measure the temperatures of all piles daily. Heat is a key factor as it reduces the number of pathogens and breaks down the materials faster, reducing odours.
  • We turn the curing piles daily and aim to turn and water each aerated static pile after 14 days of curing.
  • We also monitor  oxygen, temperature, and moisture content during the composting process and adjustments as necessary. Ensuring there is enough oxygen in the compost pile is the most important component to minimizing the risk of microbes producing odours.
  • We cover the piles with 15cm of a biocover layer. This material is either coarse wood chips or finished compost. The microbes in this layer absorb and decompose the odour compounds that may come up from the composting material underneath. 
• Odour checks:
  • We also do “sniff tests” at key locations within and around our site each morning using a device called a Nasal Ranger (learn more about this device).  The results of the sniff tests, along with weather information, is recorded. 
  • If odours are detected during the sniff test, the information is shared immediately with our Operations staff, who will investigate and make any changes to operations that may be required.

Odour is perhaps the most common problem associated with composting. While odours can be controlled through facility design, proper management, and operational controls, even the best, well-maintained composting facilities can have some odour, and under some circumstances, the odour will travel.

In very simple terms, the composting process generates heat, which, combined with moisture, creates steam that rises from the pile. Odour molecules basically hitch a ride with the water molecules and are carried up into the atmosphere. However, the odour molecules are heavier than the water molecules and eventually fall to the ground.

When there is little to no wind, the molecules stay collected and can be pushed with any wind that comes along. The heavier odour molecules can fall out of the air, causing a concentration of odour.

This informational video from Dr. John Paul describes in more detail the science behind how odours travel.

Claystone is committed to being a responsive partner and good neighbour and we take odour complaints very seriously.

• Upon receipt of an odour complaint during operational hours, a member of our team goes out again with the Nasal Ranger around our site, to the area where the odour was detected, and to other areas that could be affected. The results of the sniff test are recorded and shared with Operations staff.
• For compost specifically, based on the type of odour detected, we will adjust our operations as required. It is important to provide as much detail about the odour as possible as different types of smells mean different things in the composting process. 
• If our investigations reveal that there are no abnormalities with the compost piles, then we will often add more biocover (fresh wood chips), water, and oxygen to the piles in the most active phase of decomposition to help filter and mitigate the smell.

Claystone is implementing a new Odour Issue Response Plan with an online form for residents to fill out when they detect odours.

• The form will collect important information including type of odour, location, duration of the smell, and weather conditions. 
• Once submitted, the form will automatically be sent to our staff for review and action during regular operating hours.
• The odour complaint, along with the results of our investigation and any actions taken will be recorded and tracked in our system.
• If requested by the complainant, we will share the results of our investigation and actions taken.

By using this form, we will be able to collect important data that will help identify trends, refine our processes, and report our findings to the community.

While it may seem like an easy solution to put organics into a building to contain the smell, experts suggest that this can often make the situation worse. Putting compost within a facility or under a canopy would essentially concentrate the odours, making any odour release event more significant. While some facilities add deodorizers to the exhaust blowers, the concentrated odours are still significant enough to be smelled over longer distances.

The best way to reduce compost odours is to implement best practices in compost management. Composting is a complex, scientific process. We will continue to consult with experts and refine our processes to reach the highest standards and reduce odours as much as possible.

While the easy answer may be to stop composting, the reality is that composting plays an important role in the future of waste management and the protection of our environment. 

1. Composting helps reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill, which means the landfill will last longer. This is important as there is not a lot of space left for landfills.
2. Composting helps reduce greenhouse gases. Organic waste landfilled with other garbage decomposes in an anaerobic state, causing methane. In 2022, the Government of Canada indicated that 17 per cent of national methane emissions are from Canadian landfills. 
3. The end result of composting is a nutrient rich material that can be used to enrich the soil for gardeners and farmers, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.

In addition to the environmental benefits, Claystone Waste Ltd. is committed to improving the quality of life for people in this region through our community benefit programs that are unmatched in the waste management industry.

• We provide waste services collection to the rural and urban communities, manage the various transfer stations, and offer large item pickup twice a year.
• We provide employment opportunities for the region and our business practices have resulted in us being named one of Alberta’s Top 80 Employers in 2024.
• Since 2015, Claystone has already paid out over $29 million to local communities through various forms of supports including dividends, grants, sponsorships, and other forms of community partnerships.

The most significant benefit would be the dividends we pay to our shareholder municipalities: Beaver County, the Village of Holden, the Village of Ryley, the Town of Tofield, and the Town of Viking. 

In addition to our landfill operations and fleet services, our composting program generates revenue that helps maintain our ability to pay those important dividends to the community, and to explore other business opportunities that could provide and support important community services and employ even more people in the region.

In addition to the dividend paid to the municipalities, Claystone also provides a Good Neighbour Grant to the Village of Ryley and Beaver County, which is to fund services and projects that benefit those directly impacted. The amount is calculated based on the revenues from the previous year and paid in the spring of the following year.  For 2023, Claystone provided over $236,000 in Good Neighbour Grant funding to the Village of Ryley and Beaver County.

Visit our Compost Sales Page for information on how you can get compost for residential, commercial, or agricultural purposes.

The Claystone Waste Ltd. operations are in the Landfilling and Composting District of the Beaver County Land Use Bylaw, making it a permitted use under the County’s bylaw. There are no other Landfilling and Composting Districts in the county, meaning that composting operations at this scale cannot be done anywhere else in the county.

Claystone’s composting operations are ongoing and significant odour events are infrequent and are usually the result of specific weather conditions or equipment issues. Claystone is committed to being a good neighbour and takes odour concerns very seriously. In 2024, we implemented an online Odour Issues – Customer Service Opportunity Form that allows people to provide information on any odour issues they are experiencing anytime of the day or night. Claystone will also report any significant issues that may result in extended odour events on our website and on our Facebook page.