Examining the potential uses of bottom ash from an energy from waste plant on Prince Edward Island

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Prince Edward Island has an energy from waste plant located in Charlottetown, which incinerates burnable solid waste and pumps the resulting heat to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the downtown core. What is left over after incineration is known as bottom ash. Bottom ash is considered a non-hazardous residue and is disposed of currently by landfilling. This bottom ash residue is using up valuable space in Prince Edward Island landfills. Holland College's Environmental Applied Science Program, in collaboration with FCMSA inc. is going to explore new avenues for this material that is largely inert, to be diverted to other purposes. A proposed use for this bottom ash would be as an aggregate in paver stones as a replacement to gravel. These solid waste incineration plants are being proposed for other sites across Canada, so finding innovative uses of bottom ash is becoming of more value. Interestingly, the bottom ash differs greatly between incinerators in Canada depending on the incinerator type. They can produce a bottom ash that has not been well studied for use as an aggregate in paver stones, and it should be studied how such residue should be treated to make it suitable for that use. FCMSA Inc. is exploring the potential to build a business for the collection, treatment and use of ash for this purpose, and currently require this research in order to proceed to commercialization of paver stones. This project will test the leachate of bottom ash collected from the Charlottetown Energy from Waste plant to determine if it is a feasible replacement to gravel in paver stones.