Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am pleased to be here today to present a rather modest project to you. But in Victoriaville it's a big project, of which we have many.
I represent a training centre which teaches recycling. We teach young people who don't do well in the regular school system. Since 1990, we have trained between 50 and 70 students who cannot follow the regular curriculum. We decided to provide these kids with a different learning environment, namely one which operates in the area of recycling, and innovation in recycling; we also create sectors which did not exist before.
Victoriaville began recycling at the source thanks to Mr. Normand Maurice, now deceased, who believed that this was very a very important thing. He also believed that underprivileged youth with learning disabilities could play a meaningful role in society. So the training centre focused on the areas I just mentioned and began by creating modest research incubators. The first one dealt mainly with the identification of the papers and cartons we received. Then, with the help of the students, we started to involve the community and began the selective removal process in Victoriaville. The removal process is very efficient and respects the objectives of the waste materials management plan. We are currently engaged in a five-pronged removal process.
We have also begun to collect paint. The removal of paint began in Victoriaville. It is the training centre of which I am the director today which first became involved with filtration on a small scale and with a small budget. Our objective was to create something we could demonstrate to others. Our initial project was to demonstrate that unused paint could be recycled. We began to operate a plant which collects nearly 5 million kilos of paint and dangerous domestic waste every year. We upgrade the paint, which is then sold.
We have also worked with Peintures Récupérées du Québec, which already has the know-how and technical data to filter paint. We decided to create a pilot project involving the filtration of used vegetable oils. The cooking oils which we receive at the plant come from within a network of 550 municipalities which have set up a process to collect paint and dangerous household waste. These oils arrive in bulk and we developed a very dynamic and modest research protocol. Our objective was to show that if Germany could do it, we could too. So we bought a vehicle which we adapted. We worked with young students who were in an applied program to improve the vehicle's combustion logistics and the way the vehicle runs in very cold temperatures, given our winter climate. We also tried to find solutions while working in a very cold environment. The vehicle was tested with a dynamometer, and with the help of our students and chemists, we were able to verify our filtration product.
I can tell you today that Victoriaville has demonstrated that reused vegetable oil can, when correctly treated with a good filtration method, become a resource which performs better in terms of consumption and torque, as demonstrated by the dynamometer. I can provide you with the supporting statistics.
One year ago, I was in Tianjin, China, which is covered by smog 310 days a year. The use of pure vegetable oil eliminates odour and soot. This means that residues lose their fine particles.
We had questions about torque. When you use pure vegetable oil, it is 5.5% more effective, which represents a torque increase of 4%.
I like the idea that a network of 550 municipalities, which care about environmental recycling, recycle materials on an experimental basis. If the use of oil became widespread, it could be used to make some vehicles run more efficiently.
Our target is to develop vehicles which run on waste materials. We will create a vehicle prototype which runs on vegetable oil. Our objective is to exceed the threshold of 45% to 80%. Depending on the type of vehicle, we could use our vegetable oil at a threshold of over 80%. Our objective is not to commercialize this application, but rather to test it to see whether it is doable and mechanically possible. With the help of our mechanics, we are focusing on preventative maintenance to prevent mechanical breakdowns, and to reassure vehicle manufacturers. We then would be able to claim that our fuel can work at a threshold of 45%, 50% or 60%, and that it is very efficient and performs well.
My presentation was short, but I simply wanted to show you that getting young people, cities or municipalities involved, is the first step towards change. Studying a bill and amendments, as you are doing, can create a movement. The only way to provide security for our young people is to do little things on a daily basis and to give them hope that their lives have meaning. The more this is recognized by a community, the more it is fulfilling.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.