Toronto, ON – Maple Leaf Foods today announced that the City of Brandon
has submitted an Environment Act Proposal to Manitoba Conservation to enhance
its wastewater treatment capabilities in order to support expansion at the
Maple Leaf Pork processing facility in Brandon, Manitoba.
The application includes implementing leading edge technology that will
significantly improve future effluent quality over the current system and
meeting Manitoba Conservation’s requirements that no additional nutrient loads
be discharged into the river.
“The new technology would allow the facility to treat 50%
more wastewater while reducing average nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the
final effluent by more than 50% and 20% respectively,” said Peter Smith,
Corporate Vice President of Engineering for Maple Leaf Foods. “The resulting
effluent will be of better quality than that generated by a single shift.”
“These improvements will allow for further investment in
and expansion of the Maple Leaf Pork facility and allow the plant to reach its
full potential,” said Randy Powell, President, Maple Leaf Pork. “This is
an important step in the continuing development and advancement of Maple Leaf’s
global value-added pork business.”
The City of Brandon is proposing to install a ZenoGemTM
system at the existing Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility. ZenoGemTM
is a patented membrane technology system developed by
ZENON Environmental Inc., a Canadian company that has developed and
implemented leading edge water and wastewater technology solutions around the
world. With the proposed system, nitrogen and phosphorous in the effluent would
be significantly reduced.
As part of the review process, a Clean Environment
Commission Hearing will be held to consider the Proposal and receive public
input. Additionally, Maple Leaf and the City will provide ongoing
information and community consultation on the proposal. The City’s application
will be available for review at provincial public registries, as well as on the
Manitoba Conservation website at
www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/envapprovals.
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a leading Canadian food processing
company committed to delivering quality food products to consumers around the
world. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, the Company employs more than 18,000
people at its operations across Canada and in the United States, Europe and
Asia.