Environmental stewardship is a key component of ConocoPhillips' commitment to responsible operations. While some of these efforts are large scale and companywide, others are unique and locally focused.

In an effort to reduce waste — or eliminate it altogether — members of the ConocoPhillips Canada team at the Surmont oil sands development formed the grass roots multi-disciplinary Operations Waste and Liability Strategy team, affectionately known as the OWLS.

Reducing waste is a challenge for a massive and remote facility like Surmont. From cardboard and kitchen scraps to plastics and pallets, the OWLS team is leading the effort to manage waste more efficiently and effectively. A joint venture between ConocoPhillips and TotalEnergies, Surmont has up to 600 workers on site each day.

With an eye on innovating, reducing, reusing and recycling at operations facilities as well as the Surmont Regional Residence (SRR) in Canada’s boreal forest, the OWLS team is reducing the company’s carbon footprint and increasing its sustainability — and driving down costs at the same time. The cross-functional, volunteer group includes members of Operations Services, the SRR team, environmental specialists from Surmont and Calgary, and some site contractors who are all “filled with passion and enthusiasm, and who understand sustainability and waste streams and are eager to determine what we can do better,” said OWLS co-chair Brendin Eshpeter, who works as a shift supervisor at Surmont.

A focus on innovative thinking isn’t new for the people of Surmont. Efforts to reduce steam-to-oil ratio and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity are embedded within ConocoPhillips' operations and a sustainability mindset often guides decisions.

When they first convened in 2017, the OWLS team imagined expanding that thought process to how people live on site — including the food they consume and the garbage they generate. At the time, work camp waste was trucked to regional landfills, resulting in GHG emissions both from the trucks and the landfills. Could waste reduction efforts contribute to the broader ConocoPhillips emissions reduction goals?

“It starts with a list of ideas, goals and objectives," Eshpeter said. "We look at new ideas and assess economic and sustainability impacts. Then we figure out what’s feasible."

A series of small improvements

The first OWLS team initiative wasn’t initially very popular. They had learned that many disposable paper coffee cups, approximately 750,000 each year, were being sent to the regional landfill from Surmont, with an associated cost of $100,000. Eliminating that waste, and emissions from transporting trucks, seemed like a fairly straightforward improvement.

“We understood there might be resistance to not having the convenience of paper cups, but we decided to rip the band-aid off and eliminate them all together,” Eshpeter said. “We thought about our options, and how to handle it, and decided it would be best if we gave everyone their own cup. We found a reusable cup we liked and ordered enough to give one to every person on site.”

That’s when the hard work began. Armed with a catchy slogan — “I choose to reuse” — and a mascot named Hootie, the OWLS team hung posters and promoted the effort via other communication tools, spreading the word about the upcoming coffee cup change. Two weeks after all reusable cups were distributed, all remaining disposable cups were removed from the premises.

“Everyone used to have three or four coffees a day," Eshpeter said. "We figured out if you stacked all those cups end to end it was probably enough to go twice around the world every year.” 

Building on the success of their coffee cup caper, the team set their sights on eliminating single-use plastic water bottles, following the same plan.

“It was definitely an easier transition than the coffee mugs. After we gave every employee a water bottle and installed self-cleaning water fountains around the facilities it was pretty seamless,” Eshpeter said. “Instead of grabbing a couple of bottles of water before a shift, people now fill their reusable water bottles.”

The OWLS also introduced reusable food containers to SRR residents. Prior to program implementation, the facility ordered around 239,700 disposable containers per year. Under the new program, the SRR had a shrinkage/loss of about 10,700 reusable containers. In just one year, nearly 230,000 containers were kept out of the landfill. Additionally, recycling centers known as “waste segregation stations” were added throughout the SRR to collect additional recyclable items, with the goal of making the process easy for residents.

“People can be very resistant to change, but they also adapt quickly,” Eshpeter said. “We now think people are thinking and caring about the impact of their waste. It’s definitely been a long, hard road to change thinking. But it’s been wildly successful. As the OWLS program has grown it’s become clear that a lot of little changes can add up to make a big difference.”

From burgers to biomass

Excess, uneaten food was a significant waste stream the OWLS team identified as an opportunity for improvement. With hundreds of residents enjoying their meals at the SRR, the quantity generated was substantial.  

“We determined the volume of waste being hauled to landfill and tracked the associated cost," Eshpeter said. "We also figured out GHG emissions — the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a standard calculation for the GHGs created per pound of food waste. The GHGs from this waste stream are a combination of transportation and landfill emissions.” 

The OWLS committee considered several solutions. Composting wasn’t an ideal option due to space requirements, process logistics and wildlife management issues (food waste and compost can attract bears and other wildlife). The most pragmatic solution they identified was partnering with Eco-Growth to implement several Eco-Growth Organic Reactors, which turn organic waste, such as food, into biomass through dehydration. The resulting biomass can be used in lieu of sawdust in industrial processes, further reducing the company’s carbon footprint.

A biomass boiler fueled by dehydrated food waste now supports hot water tanks and unit heaters in the SRR kitchen and warehouse, turning 850 pounds of raw waste (including food, organics, paper and grease) into 170 pounds of high-quality biomass every 24 hours. This project proved so successful that, on the strength of it, Eco-Growth now sells commercial biomass dehydrators to companies across Canada. At Surmont, the reactors have decreased the volume of waste by about 518,000 pounds per year, significantly reducing the amount transported to the regional landfill, decreasing the number of trucks on the road, the amount of waste sitting in the landfill and the amount of fuel being burned.

“Ultimately, we expect to see a 100% reduction in hauling organic food waste to the landfill,” said Richard Chubb, shift supervisor, Operations Services. “I look forward to seeing what we will continue to accomplish with this program.”

A full cycle recycle

A lot of people typically equates to a lot of packages, so it came as no surprise to the OWLS team that a lot of cardboard shipping boxes were being sent to the landfill from Surmont. To reclaim this material, the group opted to purchase a compactor and repurpose an old mechanic shop as a recycling center, where the cardboard is compacted, baled and sent to Edmonton for recycling. Paper toiletries resulting from this recycling are then sold back to Surmont. This initiative reduced landfill waste by about 22 tons in just three months and saved nearly 600 gallons of fuel that would have been needed to transport the cardboard to the landfill.

The ample supply of wooden pallets from shipping and receiving was another reclamation target. Instead of sending about 230 tons of used pallets to the regional landfill the team chips the wood every three to four years. The resulting wood chips are now stored on site for future use as a bulking agent in various facility processes and for erosion control on slopes and walking trails. Extra pallets are donated to the Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation, who are fighting food insecurity in the area with an organic community farm. The pallets, which are transported to the remote farm by the ConocoPhillips team, are used to stack potatoes.

Cans collected from Surmont serve a dual purpose, benefiting area youth and supporting OWLS conservation efforts. Clean, used cans are compiled then given to several groups of local Indigenous youth to transport to recycling centers. The youth keep the money earned from turning in the cans.

“They love to get the call that it’s time to come get the cans," Eshpeter said. "It’s literally thousands and thousands of cans they turn in so it’s an easy way for them to make money.” He said one of his favorite parts of being OWLS co-chair is watching ideas begin in committee meetings and evolve to ultimately provide a benefit to ConocoPhillips and the community.  

“Every project has an ROI (return on investment) of around 18 months. And every OWLS project has paid itself out — they make financial and sustainable sense,” he said. Since 2017, trash trucked from Surmont has decreased to 30% compared to volumes prior to adoption of OWLS efforts, thanks to the recycling initiatives as well as the installation of a compactor, decreasing GHG emissions from both trucks and landfills.

Sharing knowledge

The OWLS team has been happy to share their recipe for sustainable success with others in similar situations. They’ve won several regional awards for their work and have presented on their efforts to other members of Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). Additionally, based on the success of OWLS, ConocoPhillips plans similar waste reduction initiatives at other sites.