In Quebec, the natural Christmas trees collected by communities after the holidays are generally processed into compost or mulch, but in Lac-Saint-Jean they are also recycled to generate electricity.
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Every January, the Saint-Félicien Cogeneration Company, owned by California’s Greenleaf Power, receives the residue from some of the fir trees that people got rid of after the holiday.
The plant, which produces energy from biomass, burns the material in a huge furnace at a temperature of more than 500 degrees to heat water, which turns into steam to drive a turbine that produces electricity.
David-Alexandre Vincent / QMI AGENCY
Christmas trees account for less than 10% of the material processed annually in Saint-Félicien, as the company mainly sources bark waste from sawmills to generate electricity. But your contribution is more than appreciated.
“The material is drier than the bark we get from the sawmills,” explained works manager Pascal Turcotte during our visit to Saint-Félicien. It allows you to have better combustion efficiency and it allows you to end up producing more electricity.”
Reuse that reduces pollutants
Upcycling these green decorations through electricity generation—just like turning them into compost or mulch—reduces the environmental impact they would cause if they went straight to landfill. .
“If it were buried there would be methane emissions and water pollution,” Mr Turcotte said. Here we can avoid these pollutants, on the one hand because we clean the contaminated water before we dispose of it. CO2 comes out of our chimney, yes, but that has nothing to do with the amounts that would be emitted if we didn’t have our power plant.
The Saint-Félicien facilities produce 125,000 megawatt hours of electricity each year, which are sold to Hydro-Québec.
This production can supply approximately 10,000 households for a year.
Other outlets
In addition to the Greenleaf initiative in Saint-Félicien, used trees collected after the holidays in Lac-Saint-Jean and Saguenay will be processed into mulch and compost. Last year, thanks to the “Sapin du bon sens” campaign of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean forest association, 919 conifers were recovered in the region. Since its inception 31 years ago, more than 180,000 trees have been repurposed. The organization observes that citizens are becoming increasingly aware.
Elsewhere in Quebec, for example in Quebec City, trees donated by citizens to eco centers are then sent to the composting center.
In Montreal, conifers left on the streets by citizens are picked up from door to door to be turned into compost.
Chips are also produced to feed a thermal power station north of the city to produce electricity, as in Saint-Félicien.