New landfill would cost $100M
She said it may be time to switch to a different measurement, such as waste diversion per capita.
The amount of material recycled in 2017 dropped to 27,900 tonnes from 28,000 tonnes in 2016 and 29,633 tonnes in 2015, the first full year of city-wide recycling collection.
The landfill accepted 153,850 tonnes of material in 2017, down from 155,230 tonnes in 2016. Of this material, 94,800 tonnes were added to the landfill, which is lower than the 99,800 tonnes added in 2016.
These numbers could suggest Saskatoon residents are reducing the overall amount of material, such as packaging, but is not reflected in a substantially lower diversion rate, Wallace said.
She held a news conference Wednesday to announce a campaign to improve waste diversion by people living in apartments and townhouses. Although they only produce six per cent of the waste that winds up at the landfill, the city estimates 61 per cent of that material, or 8,600 tonnes a year, could be diverted.
By 2023, the city wants to divert 70 per cent of material from the landfill, located on the west side of the South Saskatchewan River
in the city’s southwest.
City council heard on Monday that the landfill’s lifespan is expected to last only 40 to 50 more years.
It will cost between $50 million to $75 million to close the current location and another $100 million to build a new one. It will also cost $200,000 a year to maintain and monitor the closed landfill for about 35 years, for a total of $7 million.
The current cost of operating the landfill is $4.1 million a year. The city is not transferring enough money to its landfill replacement reserve fund to pay for the ongoing costs of operating the landfill and one day replacing it.
That shortfall has prompted city hall to contemplate measures to divert more material from the landfill.