Environment committee  That's private investment, so it's not the city buying it. It's not a technology that we sell, because sometimes for waste management the model is to sell the technology that then needs to be upgraded by the municipality.

Environment committee  The business model is a biorefinery. We sell value-added products, ethanol or biomethanol.

Environment committee  Because we're taking municipal solid waste in this case, we get a tipping fee from the municipality. Usually municipalities have to pay a tipping fee to landfills. We're providing them with a competitive value proposition. Instead of landfilling, they actually pay us and we then invest, create those jobs—

Environment committee  It's very similar—

Environment committee  Exactly. It's really a biorefinery using waste. We have a competitive advantage over our competitors, who have to pay for the feedstock—

Environment committee  And paying a tipping fee.

Environment committee  I think municipalities are all going through their strategic planning and the next steps for them. They have already had to deal with how to optimize their recycling, what they do with food waste. Many of them are looking at the next steps. The City of Toronto is doing the same.

Environment committee  Yes, but that is not the case; it's quite high. On average, based on the Waste Business Journal, in the U.S., for example, it's about $45, and that does not include—if I remember it well—the transportation costs. In many municipalities, when you look at the total cost, it's above $80 or $100 per tonne.

Environment committee  We've invested about $100 million.

Environment committee  I guess it's cheaper for us, given that this is one of the sources of energy we use even though an important part of our process is energy self-sufficiency. But we're not competing with natural gas as we are really producing a replacement for gasoline instead of producing electricity.

Environment committee  There are several important aspects to this. First, there has to be continued support for the commercialization of innovation. It is very important to be involved, and not only at the research and development stage. It is very important to make sure that those innovations that have the potential to be profitable be able to get through what we call in finance the “valley of death”.

Environment committee  The first one is about stimulating cleantech innovation. I think the expert in this is probably Céline Bak from Analytical Advisors. She has been following the sector for more than five years. I think the return on job creation is enormous. In terms of the export potential, it's also great.

Environment committee  Per year.

Environment committee  And on retaining that biofuel so that we can generate the reductions here in GHGs rather than in the U.S....

Environment committee  Natural Resources Canada is a partner for our research and pilot projects mainly. We were not able to benefit from the ecoENERGY initiative for biofuels because the timing of our commercial production was such that we could not apply under this program. We do receive funding for a research project on airplane fuel under the ecoENERGY initiative for innovation.