A (green) thumb's up for recycling company expansion

Granutech Canada Recycling Ltd. received much in the way of support from the mayor, the city and it's councillors during Monday Night's Regular Meeting of City Council in the form of a letter regarding an expansion project by the company.

"What we did tonight was give the mayor on behalf of our city and our city council permission to write a letter of support for Granutech on a big initiative that they're working on" says Councillor Mike Anthony.

Recognized as a North American leader in the field of recovery, transformation and valorization of energy-content wastes, Granutech Canada Recycling Ltd. is working towards a significant expansion of its operations into North Bay.

That could mean up to fifty full time jobs will be created within the city.

"If they expand this way, we could be seeing a 100,000 square foot (domed) building being built and forty to fifty full time jobs will be created, which is why you saw all hands up around the table tonight", Anthony explained.


Effective September 1, 2009 a new province wide program was introduced to manage the flow and recycling of scrap tires. The five year goal of the Ontario Tire Stewardship Plan is to have all of Ontario's scrap tires processed within the province. Granutech sees this as an opportunity for expansion as currently there are no facilities to process over-sized tires in Ontario. North Bay provides an ideal location as the bulk of over-sized tires are located in the northern region of the province. There are several critical components to effectively managing scrap tires; collection, processing, marketing and delivery.

Granutech's mission falls directly in line with the City's Green Plan as
absolutely NO burning is involved in any of Granutech's recycling processes and therefore gives the company the inside track with regards to receiving a positive decision from the province.

The company has already discussed any required provisions with the Fire Chief, who has indicated there is no concern on his part as the company is more than adequately prepared in case of emergency.

As well, The Ontario Tire Stewardship Council has provided a letter of support in favour of the project.

"It's really a great chance to support a local company that may create jobs and have a corner in the market here in Ontario" says Anthony.

Although Anthony is not sure as to when the ministry will make its final decision regarding the issue, he has been informed that the expansion could be starting sooner rather than later.

"When I asked staff when we could actually see this taking place and expansion starting, I was told "within a year". So that's on a pretty tight time line. To me, that's pretty positive impact on the area".