Local governments making infrastructure plans that recover energy and resources from waste can use this resource to access a multitude of information including technology, case studies and funding support. This guide was compiled by CEA with the generous support of the Province of B.C. – Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and our team is grateful to the project advisory committee who guided the direction of the project and provided helpful review and suggestions.

“Closing the Loop” is a guide about capturing value from local government infrastructure by recovering energy and other resources from waste.
This guide builds from past work related to “Integrated Resource Recovery” (IRR), including:

• Resources from Waste: Integrated Resource Management Study (2008)
• Resources from Waste: A Guide to Integrated Resource Recovery (IRR) (2009)
• Integrated Resource Recovery Inventory (2010)

In the ten years since the original study, many local governments have demonstrated that IRR technologies can use solid and liquid waste to create energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water, and recover nutrients, while saving money and potentially generating revenue.

“Closing the Loop” places IRR into a broader approach we are calling “regenerative infrastructure”. The approach, and its name, is inspired by the concept of regenerative design, which mimics nature’s processes. In nature, there is no waste, as all resources cycle through closed loop systems and serve a purpose.

There are 4 main sections in the resource: