Northstar Clean Technologies Inc. (ROOF-X) has opened its Calgary asphalt shingle recycling facility, its first commercial-scale asset, and marked the occasion with the announcement of a five-year service contract with the City of Calgary.

The company announced the opening of the Empower Calgary facility on Wednesday, and said it is the first asphalt shingle recovery operation of its scale in North America. The facility can process up to 80,000 tonnes of discarded shingles per year on a two-shift basis, Northstar said in a release.

Located in Rocky View County, just outside Calgary, it will employ up to 30 full-time workers. The facility is just shy of 20,000 square feet, Greg G. Phaneuf, Northstar’s CFO and vice-president of corporate development, said in an email exchange with Sustainable Biz Canada.

"Together with The City of Calgary, we're transforming what was once a landfill problem into a circular economy solution,” Aidan Mills, president and CEO of Northstar, said in the announcement.

“This facility shows what's possible when government, industry and innovators come together to make environmental progress that also drives economic growth."

How the Empower facility will operate

The facility will use Northstar’s patented Bitumen Extraction & Separation Technology to recycle the shingles, recovering liquid asphalt, aggregate, fibre and limestone. The byproducts can be reused to make new paving, roofing and construction materials.

The life-cycle carbon emissions of the recycled products and materials will be cut by approximately 60 per cent, Northstar said. 

In an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada last year, Mills said over 16 million tonnes of shingles are discarded in Canada and the U.S. per year, presenting a major waste problem.

Northstar will serve the City of Calgary in a contract that will start April 2026, which coincides with the city relaunching its shingle recycling program. The shingles from the Spy Hill, East Calgary, and Shepard waste management facilities will be processed by Northstar.

The company and city will partner on the collection, inspection, screening and contaminant removal of the loads “to ensure operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness,” Northstar said.

Northstar declined to disclose the volume targets and tipping fees under the contract. It did, however, say it will help Calgary meet its goal of keeping thousands of tonnes of construction materials out of landfills per year.

Northstar has supply agreements with Brampton, Ont.-based shingle maker IKO Industries Ltd. and Calgary-based Ecco Recycling & Energy Corporation to provide feedstock for the Empower Calgary facility.

The company has signed a contract with Brampton-headquartered McAsphalt Industries that will see McAsphalt take all of the asphalt produced from the facility.

The development of the facility was supported with more than $7.2 million in funding from two provincial agencies — Emissions Reduction Alberta and Alberta Innovates.

First step in Northstar's growth plan

In the announcement, Mills hinted at Northstar’s intent to build similar arrangements with other municipalities in North America as part of its expansion plan.

Last year, Northstar signed a letter of intent with a subsidiary of the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority to lease a four-acre industrial property for a 15-year term. The plan is to develop a shingle recycling facility for the Greater Toronto Area in Hamilton.

The recycling capacity is expected to be similar to the Empower Calgary facility.

“We are working with various parties to perfect our location there, together with ongoing discussions for supply, offtake and financing,” Phaneuf said about the Hamilton facility. Northstar anticipates the facility will be operational in early 2027, coinciding with its first U.S. facility.

For the U.S. project, Northstar built a relationship with Kansas-based roofing product manufacturer TAMKO Building Products. TAMKO invested millions of dollars into Northstar and agreed to work together to find a site for the U.S. facility. TAMKO has secured the rights to take the majority of the asphalt product from Northstar’s first four facilities in the U.S., Phaneuf said.

Mills told Sustainable Biz Canada last year the company’s outlook is to have 23 recycling facilities by 2030.