Addressing odour issues at the TransAqua composting facility in Moncton could cost tens of millions of dollars.

Council voted in February to insist that the commission enclose the north end site in a building or relocate it elsewhere.

TransAqua and the city hired engineering and environmental consulting firm CBCL to evaluate the feasibility and potential costs of three different options:

• Enclosing the existing site with a building over the active compost processing pads and receiving area, with odour control on the exhaust air.
• Relocating the compost facility to the Five Rivers site currently owned and operated by TransAqua.
• Relocating the compost facility to a new site within 30 kilometres of the TransAqua Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Brennan Thorne, a manager with CBCL, said enclosing the existing site, which is about the size of two Avenir Centre arenas, would be the most expensive option with $75 million in capital costs.

Extra power consumption would also lead to higher increase annual costs by around $500,000 and greenhouse gas emissions to 1,500 tonnes, he said.

Relocating the site would cost less at around $46 million, but annual hauling costs would increase by as much as $833,000. In addition, the existing site would have to be decommissioned at a cost of $8 million.

“There is a high risk of public opposition. Anywhere in the city, or even in the surrounding communities, there’s gonna be a lot of resistance to developing a site, mostly due to the recent negative publicity around the composting facility,” said Thorne.

While Moncton councillors would not be the ones deciding what would happen, there are preferred options at least among some of them.

Coun. Charles Léger said he would be opposed to hauling biosolids outside of the city and would like to see the current facility stay where it is.

“I think cities in North America and elsewhere recognize that the waste that is created by a city needs to be dealt with by the city,” said Léger.

“I would hope that the next step is going to be to say, ‘OK, well, it’s $75 million, it’s a lot of money, but on the other hand, this is our plan for the next 30 years, and this is how we’re going to address it.'”

Coun. Bryan Butler, one of two councillors who put forward the initial motion earlier this year, raised concerns about the increase in greenhouse gas emissions related to enclosing the existing site.

“One of the pillars in our plan for the city is to cut greenhouse gases,” said Butler. “So for $75 million, we’re actually putting more greenhouse gases into the air.”

TransAqua commission members are expected to review the final report in more detail at their next meeting on Thursday.