Tuesday 28 June 2016

Cold Lake Landfill expansion about to begin

For the Lakeland Regional.

The Cold Lake Regional Transfer Station is slated to get a major expansion this fall, as use of
the landfill continues to grow.
Eric Bowling
 
The city’s trash will soon have a new can as construction on a new section of the local landfill is set to begin this fall.

Cold Lake City Council is moving forward with its plan to expand the Cold Lake Landfill’s capacity for incoming waste. The plan will now be sent to Alberta Environment for final approval before the construction can commence.

The new landfill cell is expected to create an additional 429,780 square metres of room for “dry waste”, which covers wood chips, shingles, drywall, paper, discarded metal and other solid objects.
The funding for the landfill expansion was approved in the 2016 budget.

Infrastructure Services general manager Azam Khan explained that the new cell was needed for the city’s projected growth over the next 25 years. Last year the landfill received 7,840 tonnes of waste. In increase of over 15 per cent from 2014 when the landfill collected 6,650 tonnes of waste.

“We are expecting 2016 to be similar to the last year’s volume because of the economic slump and all of the construction happening,” added Khan.

The new expansion is a requirement under Alberta Environment’s code of practice.

“That is kind of a relief,” noted Khan. “We won’t have out fill out as much paperwork this way.”

A perimeter berm will be constructed around the new cell to collect surface runoff and more gas detectors will be added to track the migration of gases and odours.

The expansion will require the city to relocate the current access road and scale house. The access road will be constructed on the west side of the current landfill cell.

The new scale house will also include a second scale to minimize traffic congestion and reduce turnaround time at the scales.

The height of the current cell, which is nearing full capacity, will also be raised by an additional five metres. Eventually, the two cells will be merged as the new cell begins to fill up.

Mayor Craig Copeland commented that the project was pretty much shovel ready and the city was just waiting on Alberta Environment for the go-ahead.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Copeland. “Construction should begin in the fall and hopefully the new structure will be up and running for next spring.”

Khan mentioned that the city was hoping to avoid any serious impact on nearby neighbourhoods by adding tree lines to ensure the new expansion does not impose on citizens.

Currently, the landfill serves approximately 38,000 customers per year.
 

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