Robert Costanzo is the Deputy Manager of Operations for the City of Surrey, British Columbia. He directs the City's Waste Management Planning, Policy and Operations, and leads Surrey's sustainability goals related to waste diversion and reduced carbon emissions from its fleet operations.
Robert’s current projects include overseeing the planning, development, implementation, and operation of the City of Surrey's new Rethink Waste Collection Services as well as developing one of North America’s first closed-loop Municipal Organic Waste Management Systems.
Since its debut in 2012, the City’s Rethink Waste program has resulted in a 40% drop to Surrey’s household garbage. In addition, the City’s new CNG fleet that carries out waste collection services emits 23% less carbon emissions and 90% less air particulates than traditional diesel trucks. The low cost of natural gas compared to diesel, combined with a streamlined approach to municipal waste collection, has resulted in service savings to the City of Surrey of approximately $3 million per year.
The next phase of the City’s project involves the development of an Organic Waste Biofuel Facility that will process organic waste collected at curbside into a renewable natural gas. This gas will be used to fuel the City’s CNG waste collection fleet, resulting in a net-zero carbon impact system. The facility is expected to be operational by 2017.
To ensure no financial burden to Surrey’s taxpayers, Robert is leading Surrey’s approach to developing this estimated $68 million dollar facility via a public-private-partnership model where the City’s partner will be responsible to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the facility via a long-term agreement. As an added financial benefit, the Government of Canada has agreed to contribute up to $16.9 million of the capital costs of the project through its “Public Private Partnerships Canada” fund.
The sum of these measures is aimed to create a cleaner city, placing Surrey at the global forefront of sustainable waste management practices.