Last Wednesday, Northstar Clean Technologies Inc. held its opening event for its first commercial asphalt shingle shingle reprocessing facility in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, after several months of construction. 

The ceremony on September 20 follows reporting in Roofing Supply Pro last May after the company had cleared all necessary benchmarks to move forward with detailed engineering plans; the facility is designed to break down asphalt roofing shingles, one of the top five largest contributors to construction and demolition waste, into its three primary components: liquid asphalt, fiber, and aggregate.

In a September 18 media advisory announcing the event, the company said that when operating at full capacity, the Empower Calgary Facility is expected to divert approximately 40,000 tons of asphalt shingles per year away from Calgary-area landfills, equating to more than 60,000 barrels of oil.

The company has not announced when the plant expects to become fully operational. Still, at that point, the Empower Calgary Facility is expected to have a carbon footprint 60% lower than the base case of landfill and asphalt replacement with virgin production.

Northstar doesn’t appear to be slow-rolling, saying in the news release that it intends to “…make the call to Calgary and surrounding area householders to ‘Make sure your contractors are bringing all their roof shingles to Northstar’ starting in Q1/Q2 2024.”

Empower Calgary Site, Ribbon Cutting. Pictured from left: Jon Mook, "Mook Group of Companies"; Justin Reimer, CEO, Emissions Reduction Alberta; Aidan Mills, President and CEO, Northstar; Chantelle de Jonge MLA, Chestermere-Strathmore; Rosemary Pritchard, CFO, Northstar; Kellie Johnston, CSO and General Counsel, Northstar; Tod Englehart, Principal, Englehart Reed. (CNW Group/Northstar Clean Technologies Inc.)

The Alberta provincial government backed Northstar’s intent to build the facility and get it operational promptly. The company said it was granted more than $7 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta in its Circular Economy Challenge earlier this year, having been awarded the total amount of its request. 

The release said that receiving all it requested from Alberta “… demonstrates significant provincial support for our project and our clean technology.”

An additional $8.75M loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada provided Northstar with the resources needed to construct the Empower Calgary Facility. Northstar will start deploying new facilities after the Empower Calgary Facility is commissioned in 2024.

The company plans to build similar facilities in Toronto, Ontario and a yet-to-be-named U.S.-based plant starting in 2025.

For more information, visit northstarcleantech.com.