Northstar, city of Calgary enter shingle recycling contract

Northstar Clean Technologies Inc. has secured a five-year contractual agreement with the city of Calgary for the receipt and reprocessing of the city’s asphalt shingles at Northstar’s Empower Calgary Facility in Calgary, Alberta. The contract will commence in April 2026, coinciding with the city’s relaunch of its Shingles Recycling Program.

The city and Northstar, headquartered in Calgary, will work in partnership on the collection, inspection, screening and contaminant removal of loads diverted from the city’s waste management facilities to the Empower Calgary Facility. Under the contract, Northstar will receive all asphalt shingles collected at the city’s Spy Hill, East Calgary and Shepard Waste Management facilities for reprocessing.

Volume targets and tipping fees paid to the company under the contract will remain commercially confidential.

For Northstar, the contract adds additional supply to pre-existing supply agreements with Calgary companies Iko Industries Ltd. and Ecco Recycling & Energy Corp. to provide feedstock to the Empower Calgary Facility.

“Northstar continues to demonstrate an economically viable solution for the reprocessing of waste asphalt shingles and its involvement with landfill diversion objectives set by industry and municipalities alike,” Northstar President and CEO Aidan Mills says.

“We are very appreciative of the city of Calgary’s confidence in Northstar in selecting our company and our proprietary solution as the winning candidate under their request for proposal for waste shingle land diversion. We believe this is the beginning of a long-standing relationship with the city. With supply under the contract, together with supply from Iko and Ecco, we have secured more feedstock than required for the facility to operate on a single shift basis and process 40,000 tonnes [44,092 tons] per year.

“The contract is in line with our strategy to access feedstock supply and divert waste shingles from municipal landfills, and we look forward to engaging on and structuring similar arrangements with other municipalities across North America as part of our expansion efforts.”

Simultaneously, Northstar has also celebrated the grand opening of the Empower Calgary Facility, which it believes to be one of the first commercial asphalt shingle recovery and reprocessing facilities in North America. This also marks Canada’s first clean technology company to design, build and operate a commercial-scale facility dedicated to reprocessing asphalt shingles into reusable, market-quality materials, Northstar says.

“This grand opening marks a defining moment—not only for Northstar, but for Alberta and Canada’s clean technology future,” Mills says. “Together with the city of Calgary, we’re transforming what was once a landfill problem into a circular economy solution. This facility shows what’s possible when government, industry and innovators come together to make environmental progress that also drives economic growth.”

Located in Rocky View County, the Empower Calgary Facility is the first commercial-scale asphalt shingle recovery operation in North America.

Using patented Bitumen Extraction & Separation Technology from Northstar, the facility is capable of processing up to 88,184 tons of discarded shingles annually on a two-shift basis. According to Northstar, the facility helps to reduce lifecycle CO₂ emissions by approximately 60 percent.

RELATED: Northstar processes more than 88.18 tons of asphalt shingle feedstock per day

“Alberta is once again proving that environmental responsibility and economic opportunity go hand in hand,” says Chantelle de Jonge, a member of Canada’s legislative assembly representing Chestermere-Strathmore. “The Empower Calgary Facility is a prime example of how local innovation is paving the way across our province: creating jobs, reducing waste and demonstrating the excellence of made-in-Alberta technology.”

The facility will employ up to 30 full-time local staff and was developed in partnership with Alberta-based engineering, design and construction firms. Support from Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) and Alberta Innovates, totaling more than $7.2 million, helped to scale Northstar’s technology from a pilot project to a commercial facility.

“We saw this as a flagship investment in Alberta’s circular economy—a proven technology that cuts emissions, diverts waste and positions the province as a leader in shingle recycling,” says Justin Riemer, CEO of ERA. “We are pleased to see ERA’s funding helped bring the technology to Alberta and enable a new partnership with the city of Calgary to showcase its North American potential.”