EJQ1 - Summer 2024 - Journal - Page 34
Ecofactory case study
This exact strategy has already been put to use in communities around
the globe, including the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District
(MMSD), which partnered with Veolia to transform its long-time
wastewater facility.
“The Ecofactory solution provides Canada’s municipalities the
opportunity to leverage infrastructure budgets to not only build
resilient and adaptive wastewater infrastructure for growing
populations but also address climate change commitments.”
Now pioneers in treating wastewater as a resource, the City of Milwaukee
and the MMSD plant produce what is now known as Miloganite fertilizer.
This initiative, spearheaded by the City’s Operation and Maintenance
partner, Veolia, has diverted more than 昀椀ve million tons of waste
from land昀椀lls and thus prevented thousands of tons of fugitive land昀椀ll
methane that would have been produced, all while o昀昀setting the
production of energy and carbon-intensive synthetic fertilizers.
The MMSD now generates its own power and heat from biogenic anaerobic
digester gas and land昀椀ll gas and co-digests high-strength waste diverted
from land昀椀ll. This is a clear step toward energy independence. Additionally,
the District plans to deploy solar PV, wind power, battery storage and/or
waste heat recovery systems to achieve its goal of 100 per cent renewable
energy, a 90 per cent reduction in its carbon footprint by 2035.
E N V I RON M E N T J OURN A L QUA RT E RLY RE PORT • Q1 2 02 4 • P AGE 3 4
