Feds invest $1.5M to improve gas capture at Waterloo landfill

The federal government plans to invest up to $1.5 million to help the Region of Waterloo with a gas-collection project at the Waterloo landfill.

Currently, the region captures gas at the landfill and the cash will help expand that system and improve it.

The gas capture system traps gases like methane and prevents them from being released into the air. Instead, the gas is used to generate renewable energy.

The Liberal MP for Waterloo, Bardish Chagger, made the announcement on Tuesday in Waterloo. She said the region has been working toward a "cleaner, greener economy for decades."

"It's great to see that other communities are recognizing that you can take something that's bad, like pollution or methane gas and you can convert it, you can transition it, you can change it to something that's good, like electricity," Bardish said.

Regional Chair Karen Redman said the investment will "amp up" work that's already being done.

"The Waterloo region has had a relationship with Tormont for over 20 years, where we have been converting methane gas into electricity," Redman told CBC News. "They pay the region for the methane gas and we can supply about 4,000 homes with electricity currently."

Redman said large investments in infrastructure, like the gas capture system, can't be done without help from upper levels of government. 

The investment is part of the federal government's larger plan to reduce pollution and create jobs, Chagger added.

"We need to transition our behaviours, and we need to transition the economy so that it's a cleaner, green environment for our kids and grand kids. It's to ensure the future generations have it better than we have had it," she said.

The funding will be contingent on a formal funding agreement, and comes from the Government of Canada's Low Carbon Economy Fund.