Incinérateur des Carrières

Flashback to Montreal in the roaring 1920's. The economy was booming and with the technical advances of the time we were seeing urban growth like never before. Unfortunately, this rapid growth did not come without issues. In the later half of the decade, the city of Montreal was struggling with how to properly dispose of its own waste. There were several garbage dumps which were located within the city, giving off a horrendous odor and possibly festering disease. It was decided to alleviate the problem through incineration, a rather high tech solution for the time.

The original Incinérateur des Carrières site was completed in 1931 after two years of construction. It worked tirelessly to keep the ever increasing garbage supply off the streets although it was quickly implicated in the severe deterioration of the local air quality. By the 1960's, it was realized that another solution had to be found. Utilizing the much improved technology of the day, a brand new state-of-the-art incinerator complex was designed, finally igniting its burners in 1970. This new station had a daily capacity of over 300 tons, included heat recovery systems and pollution control technologies to mitigate past issues and was deemed to be the most advanced and modern incinerator within North America. This is the Incinerator #3 as we see it today.

As the facility aged into the 1990's, environmental awareness was taking its toll on these aging processes and ever tightening pollution standards sealed its fate. With Dioxin and Furan emissions exceeding Canadian federal standards by up to nine times, the decision was finally made to shutter the facility in December 1993.