With Moose Jaw’s landfill being nearly 100 years old, city manager Maryse Carmichael is encouraging residents to learn more about the new dump and the technological enhancements it will offer.
Carmichael and operations director Bevan Harlton sat down with the Moose Jaw Express to discuss the new solid waste management venue and address concerns that some rural and city residents have raised about the new site.
Visit https://moosejaw.ca/swmp/ for more information about the new landfill.
This is the fifth story in a series about this topic.
Addressing residents’ concerns
While some people are concerned about the site — including a rural resident living on a century-old family farm adjacent to the location — the public engagement sessions will reveal how the new landfill will look and what it offers, Carmichael said. It will be nothing like the old one on Highway 1 since it will have a maximum height of 10 metres (30 feet) and a tree-lined buffer of 100 metres.
City administration followed a multi-stage process and looked for a suitable location using specific criteria because this would be not only for the city but also for the region, she continued. Further, restrictions from 15 Wing Air Base hampered where the city could and could not build.
“And we know there will be somewhat of an impact (on) the surrounding neighbours because it will be a facility that will be there for many years. It is significantly large to have it there,” said Carmichael.
Yet, neighbours shouldn’t experience any environmental issues because of the criteria in the operating permit that city hall must follow, she added. Meanwhile, the city is keeping the RM informed about what’s coming, so there is little effect on people.
Site dimensions
The new venue will be five metres below ground level and have a leachate collection liner, which means the city will slowly build up the site over decades, said Harlton. While the city surveys the current landfill regularly, he was unsure what its elevation was — but was positive it wasn’t 30 metres.
“That’s a little bit less than 100 years of being a landfill. So that’s quite a significant pile. And if you’re up there … you’re up high (and) you’re above the rest of the city,” he added.
Previous agreements
Before he retired in 2020, former city councillor Brian Swanson reminded his colleagues that city administration had had verbal permission from the Ministry of Environment since 2012 to expand the current landfill to the east if it installed a liner.
Harlton, who has worked for the city for five years, said he was unfamiliar with that verbal agreement. Yet, he said the lands east and west of the landfill were used for waste disposal in the past and are contaminated. So, while the municipality could extend east with significant remediation, the cost to do that would be “astronomically bad.” Moreover, that space would only have a lifespan of eight to 15 years.
The ministry will allow city hall to run the current landfill until it’s at capacity and then force its closure, he continued. A construction permit would then guide how the city builds the new landfill — what it can and cannot do — while an operating permit would guide how the municipality uses the venue.
“So, a permit to operate is how the ministry takes 100-year-old landfill practices and turns municipalities into contemporary solid waste management facilities. It literally isn’t a landfill,” said Harlton.
The operations director said that city hall could ask the ministry to add five metres of space to the “landfill mountain,” but that would not be a good idea, nor would the ministry approve because of capacity. He also didn’t think either party wanted to continue struggling to “keep that pile of garbage” from blowing into neighbouring properties.
The city will cap the current landfill once it’s closed, as per ministry standards, Harlton added. The venue should be full by March 2027, based on how high the elevation is growing.
The Express will feature another article with further comments from Carmichael and Harlton about this detailed issue.
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