Canada's New Invention Could End Landfills Forever

On December 30, 2010, the last truck carrying Toronto's garbage left for a landfill in Michigan. Today, Toronto's own landfill could be full by 2035, and a provincial study warned Ontario could run out of landfill space by 2034. So how does a country that once trucked its trash to another country end up building the machines that could make landfills obsolete? Six Canadian breakthroughs that turn garbage into value: Enerkem (Edmonton, garbage to methanol), Sustane (Chester, N.S., trash to pellets and diesel), Pyrowave (Montreal, foam to styrene for Michelin tires), Loop Industries (Terrebonne, endless PET), Cyclic Materials (Kingston, rare earths from e-waste) and Universal Matter (Burlington, flash graphene for concrete and asphalt). Our companion book, The True North Files, collects 60 Canadian inventions. Scan the QR code in the video. Some scenes are dramatizations and AI generated illustrations. The Imagine 2040 section is a concept, not a forecast. Figures, deals and dates are based on public reports and company statements and may change over time. So which breakthrough matters most? Tell us in the comments, and let us know where you are watching from. Chapters: 0:00 The last truck to Michigan 1:45 The mountain in Vaughan 3:13 #6 The garbage refinery 4:41 #5 The steam cooker 6:12 #4 The microwave 7:52 #3 The bottle that never dies 9:35 #2 The hidden metals 11:42 #1 The flash 14:32 The answer 15:34 Imagine 2040 16:27 What comes next Image credits (Wikimedia Commons): CC BY 2.0: Evacuated Highway 401 Color (Kenny Louie); Michelin tire (51736960852) (whity); Blue halite (Prairie Evaporite Formation, Middle Devonian; Potash Saskatchewan-Lanigan Mine, Saskatchewan, Canada) (32237025735) (James St. John). CC BY 2.5: Chester NS Aerial (Jvienneau at English Wikipedia). CC BY 4.0: Aerial View of Interchange Between Ontario Highways 401, 403, and 410 (Coolcaesar); Island Belle 1 in Harbor of Kingston Ontario Canada (Pierre André Leclercq); Yachts in Kingston Ontario being lifted onto cradles ashore for winter (ImagePerson); George R. Brown Hall, Rice University, Houston, Texas (Kenneth C. Zirkel); Rice University Campus (AnnaLellis). CC BY-SA 2.0: Chester, Nova Scotia (3615240059) (CP Hoffman from Washington, DC, United States); Ontario Highway 401 (31782980771) (Adam Moss from Tonawanda, New York, United States); Kingston Ontario - Canada - Abramsky House - Queens University (50963350406) (Onasill ~ Bill - 103 Million Views - Thank You). CC BY-SA 3.0: Nobel Prize 2010-Press Conference KVA-DSC 8006 (Holger Motzkau); Chester (Nova Scotia) Banner (Hantsheroes); Graphen (AlexanderAlUS); Hard disk head crash (Alchemist-hp (talk) www.pse-mendelejew.de); Montreal Twilight Panorama 2006 (Diliff); Montreal night view (Paolostefano1412); Polistirolo (Phyrexian); Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam pellets (Swoolverton); Terrebonne-Ecluse des Moulins (Pierre Bona); 122 - Toronto - Septembre 2009 (Martin St-Amant (S23678)); Toronto - ON - Skyline bei Nacht (Wladyslaw (talk)). CC BY-SA 4.0: Ambassador Bridge, Windsor, Ontario, 2025-06-01 (Crisco 1492); Ambassador Bridge from Queen's Dock, Windsor, Ontario, 2025-06-03 02 (Crisco 1492); Ambassador Bridge from Queen's Dock, Windsor, Ontario, 2025-06-03 04 (Crisco 1492); View at the Brant Street Pier, Burlington, Ontario, Canada (Maksim Sokolov (maxergon.com)); View from Burlington waterfront, Ontario, Canada (Maksim Sokolov (maxergon.com)); Burlington City Hall (Burlington, Ontario) (Gogerr); Concrete pouring Katowice (Gnangcomapp); Concrete boom pump truck (Bernardobenzecry); Walterdale Bridge into downtown Edmonton, Alberta, 2026-09-26 (Chris Woodrich); Edmonton Skyline 2020 (Matthew Boonstra); 2019 Rozebrane dyski twarde (Jacek Halicki); Keele valley dump power plant and main station (Theonlysilentbob); Keele valley dump closed sign (Theonlysilentbob); Kingston Ontario Canada Bateau Mouche (Pierre André); Landfill gas vents in Toronto - 02 (Sikander Iqbal); Landfill gas vents in Toronto - 01 (Sikander Iqbal); Michelin Lithion 2 (Petar Milošević); Michelin Pro4 Endurance (Petar Milošević); 1 Queens University, Kingston, Southern Ontario, 2010 (XeresNelro); Rice University Mechanical Laboratory and Power House (Jim Evans); Sudbury downtown (P199); Terrebonne, Quebec (Roncanada); Terrebonne, Quebec - 850 rue Saint-Louis (Cantons-de-l'Est); Sunset Toronto Skyline Panorama Crop from Snake Island (Jchmrt); Vaughan City Hall- Vaughan-Ontario-20201031 (Mhsheikholeslami). Other Commons images are public domain or CC0. Stock footage: Pexels and Pixabay contributors. Illustrations: AI generated (Google Flow). Music and sound effects: YouTube Audio Library. Map data: Natural Earth.