Spending $40-million could extend landfill lifespan by 35 years, council hears

A proposal to expand the current municipal landfill could see its five-year lifespan extended by decades.

A report to council presented Monday was the result of the Solid Waste Management Environmental Assessment (EA), created by consulting firms AECOM and Dillon Consulting.

Rick Talvitie, Northern Ontario manager for AECOM, said the remaining service life of the current municipal landfill, located off Fifth Line, was estimated to be 6.8 years as of the end of 2014.

About 35 percent of household waste in the city has been redirected from the landfill since 2006, up from just 8 to 9 percent in 1999.

“There’s been some modest changes, but in general it has been hovering around 35 percent,” said Talvitie.

“There were some excellent efforts made to divert as much waste as possible from disposal,”said Talvitie.

Despite the success of diversion, Talvitie said there is still a need to create additional capacity at the landfill for future needs and an expansion of the existing site is the most cost-effective option available.

The proposed expansion would be created in stages, called cells, and would occur directly to the north and west of the current site.

Each cell would contain a liner, which would drain water, snow and other liquid runoff into the municipal wastewater system for treatment and offer enhanced ground water protection.

Talvitie suggests the initial cell should be complete within the next two to three years, allowing the the landfill to be extended prior to coming to the end of its useful lifespan.

In total, eight cells are proposed — which will extend the lifespan of the facility by 30 to 35 years.

The projected cost of the expansion is estimated at roughly between $40 to $50-million, the cost of which would be spread over many years as the cells would be created in stages.

The EA process began in 2006, with some delay, in part, due to a failed project seeking to convert waste into energy,

“There was a period of time the EA was put on hiatus to allow the Elementa process to mature and work its way into our environmental assessment,” said Talvitie

Elementa Group has since been ordered into receivership, with more than $10 million in debts.

“That 30 to 35-years of service life assumes Elementa is not taking any waste from us. If Elementa does take waste, as they are planning to do, what that does is increase the service life of that proposed expansion,” said Talvitie.

The proposed landfill expansion would include a biosolids processing facility, which would convert solid waste from the wastewater treatment process to create landfill cover at the site.

Ward 4 councillor Rick Niro asked for a comparative cost to building a new landfill, which Talvitie suggested would end up more expensive than expanding the existing facility.

“It definitely would not be any cheaper to build a new landfill,” said Talvitie.

Ward 1 councillor Steve Butland pointed out the process of finding a tract of land to build a new landfill would be met with extensive ‘not in my backyard’ opposition.

Talvitie said charging a tipping fee between $95 to $100 per tonne over the life of the proposed expansion would result in a recovery of the funds spent for the entire project.

The assessment is nearing its final stage and is to be delivered to the Ministry of the Environment in the next few months for approval. 

A public meeting, part of the final phase of the EA, will be held tonight at the Civic Centre from 3:30 p.m to  7:30 p.m.