A B.C. company that received $4.6 million from Ottawa's so-called "Green Slush Fund" just received over $1.1 million from the provincial government.
Progressive Planet has been awarded a $1,140,000 grant from the British Columbia Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund, supporting the continued development of its PozGlass™ pilot plant.
On March 5, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) announced it would give $4.6 million to the company for the same project over the next four years. The first tranche of the $4,636,468, a payment of $1,555,682, was received on January 31.
The entire board of STDC resigned in June 2024 resigned following the discovery of 186 conflicts of interest in a federal audit. STDC was soon dubbed the "Green Slush Fund" by Conservatives.
The Liberal government refused to comply with a request by Parliament for unredacted copies of STDC documents, which it wanted shared with the RCMP. Last October, Speaker Greg Fergus ruled that the government was in violation of Parliament's powers.
PozGlass™ represents a breakthrough in low-carbon cement technology, transforming post-consumer glass into a high-performance supplementary cementitious material (SCM).
Adrian Dix, Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, said sending tax dollars to Progressive Planet would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Cement production accounts for over 7% of global CO₂ emissions and creative solutions like Progressive Planet's pilot plant in Kamloops is exactly what we need to reduce emissions here in B.C. while boosting economic development,” said Dix. “With support from the British Columbia Innovative Clean Energy Fund, Progressive Plant is scaling up their pilot project, which is focused on reducing the cement industry’s carbon footprint by transforming waste materials into valuable resources.”
Progressive Planet CEO Steve Harpur says the product "is the right solution at the right time" and thanked the province for its subsidy.
"We’re tackling two major environmental challenges at once: reducing cement’s carbon footprint and creating a high value use for post-consumer glass that would otherwise end up in landfills," Harpur said.
PozGlass™ offers a triple-bottom-line solution:
Reducing emissions by replacing up to 50% of Portland cement, a major contributor to CO₂ emissions.
Sequestering carbon by permanently converting captured CO₂ into limestone.
Diverting waste by repurposing post-consumer glass into a valuable industrial material.
Cement production accounts for over 7% of global CO₂ emissions, and sources for traditional SCMs like fly ash and slag are transitioning out. With Lafarge Canada already committed to purchasing all PozGlass™ produced at the pilot plant, Progressive Planet is well-positioned to scale a viable, made-in-Canada solution that supports both industry and the environment.
The global low-carbon cement market, valued at US$2 billion in 2023, is projected to triple by 2034. With partnerships spanning investors, engineers, and construction stakeholders, Progressive Planet says it is poised to capitalize on this growth while reducing the carbon footprint of one of the world’s most essential industries.
Progressive Planet's pilot plant in Kamloops is set to begin operations in October 2025. The first phase of operations includes dry processing of post-consumer glass to remove contaminants and create coarse glass powder – the key ingredient in PozGlass™.
In Phase 1, Progressive Planet will also manufacture additional coarse glass products such as CanBlast™, a crystalline silica-free sandblasting media, which the company has sold for over a decade through a third-party manufacturer.
Phase 2 will introduce wet grinding of the coarse glass powder to produce PozGlass™. Construction of the wet grinding facility is expected to be completed in late 2026, further enhancing Progressive Planet’s capacity to meet industry demand for sustainable building materials.
On June 29, 2023, Progressive Planet announced that it had signed a purchase agreement with Lafarge Canada Inc. agreeing to purchase all the PozGlass™ produced by Progressive Planet's pilot plant up to a maximum of 3,500 metric tonnes per year.
As part of this 2023 agreement, Lafarge Canada agreed to provide technical guidance and support to Progressive Planet in advancing the proprietary PozGlass™ technology through design, construction, and operation of the pilot plant.