Canada funds food waste RNG facility expansion in Ontario

Natural Resources Canada has committed CAD $19 million (€12.9 million) to expand StormFisher Environmental's London Digester, Canada's largest food waste anaerobic digestion facility.

The London, Ontario-based facility processes municipal source-separated organics and commercial, industrial, and institutional food and beverage waste to produce renewable natural gas and nutrient-rich organic fertiliser.

The expansion will increase RNG production capacity by 450,000 gigajoules annually — sufficient to power approximately 4,500 homes — and generate an additional 86,000 tonnes of organic fertiliser for deployment on Southwestern Ontario farms.

Upon completion in 2027, the upgraded facility will reach total RNG production capacity of 675,000 GJ annually, representing a significant contribution to Canada's emerging clean fuels sector. The expansion represents part of a broader CAD $70 million (€47.6 million) investment programme across the facility.

The project is funded through Natural Resources Canada's Clean Fuels Fund, which de-risks capital investment in new or expanded clean fuel production facilities through feasibility studies, front-end engineering, biomass supply chain development, and alignment of codes and standards across production, distribution and end-use applications.

Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, positioned the investment within Canada's net-zero emissions target for 2050 and domestic energy security objectives. He noted that public-private partnerships represent a critical mechanism for scaling clean energy infrastructure whilst advancing circular economy objectives.

The London Digester model — converting organic waste into dual-revenue streams of RNG and organic fertiliser — addresses both waste management and circular nutrient cycling. Organic fertiliser produced replaces synthetic applications on regional farms, supporting soil carbon sequestration and reducing agrochemical dependency in Southwestern Ontario.

Bill Caesar, President of Generate Upcycle (parent company of StormFisher), characterised the expansion as demonstrating the commercial viability of large-scale food waste anaerobic digestion at the municipal level — a deployment model increasingly pursued across North American jurisdictions facing landfill constraints and waste diversion targets.