Blind River council got an update on expanding the life of its landfill site from a representative of the town’s engineering consultant Kresin Engineering Monday evening.
Kresin Engineering Corporation has been looking at options for the town when its current landfill site reaches the end of its use in 2020. The company explored several options for the site, located east of Blind River and north of Highway 17, and is proposing expansion of the current dump location.
The presentation was part of an annual report to council on its landfill operation.
“The landfill site environmental assessment was initiated by the town a number of years ago. It was originated originally to address an issue with respect to the disposal site capacity or the volume remaining to service the town of Blind River,” said Chris Kresin. “The latest estimate of the remaining life was calculated at the end of the last year and it’s projected out to end of 2020. That’s the volume of waste material and fill material to shape the fill area into a pyramidal shape as required by Ministry of the Environment (MOE).”
Kresin said the expansion would extend the life of the dump by 25 years, which is the maximum allowed by the MOE when it considers landfill expansion. In the proposed plan that would mean creating an expanded dump area to handle about 182,000 cubic meters of waste.
“We’re at a 25-year expectancy for an expansion,” Kresin acknowledged.
The history of the dump also shows efforts to minimize waste going into the site, including a recycling plan for the community and bag limits. Kresin said much of the information is available on the company’s website – kresinengineering.ca.
The consultant said much of the preliminary work for an expansion of the site has been done, including studies on ground water and surface water flows and what is called a “contaminant attenuation zone” which is an area where potential contaminants can be monitored and dealt with should the worst case scenario occur.
Kresin said the company is continuing its studies of the site with a report expected to go to council later this year. A presentation will be made to the public later in the fall.
“If you look at the municipality over the last 10, 15 years… you’ll notice a downward trend in the waste fill rate,” he added.
Mayor Sue Jensen said residents should continue to limit the amount of trash going to the dump and recycle as much as possible.