Phase one of the landfill at Port Clements is slated to be shut down next year, somewhat earlier than expected, say members of the Islands Solid Waste Advisory Committee.
Greg Martin, who represents Queen Charlotte on ISWAC, said engineer Tony Sperling gave a presentation outlining the status of the landfill at the March 20 meeting, held in Port Clements.
Leachate is a concern at the site. Mr. Martin said the engineer noted one of the water courses coming from the landfill is not flowing where he thought.
Sandspit's Travis Glasman, another ISWAC representative, said he understood from Mr. Sperling's presentation that the amount of leachate was one factor in determining when the landfill site should close.
The cost of closing this section the landfill is also an issue. Tim DesChamp, operations supervisor of waste management for the regional district, said the projected cost is $600,000. The regional district has approximately $250,000 in a close-out account, but will need to raise a lot of money by the summer of 2008 when the work will likely be done.
Mr. DesChamp said the regional district has been budgeting for the close-out for the last five years and is setting aside $30,000 a year for the project.
He is not sure how the regional district will approach the shortfall, but said they are looking at options.
Capping a landfill involves putting layers of topsoil, a plastic geomembrane and sand on the site to help it return to a natural state, he said. The geomembrane allows water to run off rather than sink into the pile and create more leachate.
Mr. DesChamp said the projections for closing out phase one of the landfill were always volume-based and no timeline had been set.
The next phase of the landfill will be located just north of the active part of the present site. The area has been surveyed and will need to be cleared.