City benefits from composting operation at Swift Current landfill
The City of Swift Current’s composting program is diverting a significant amount of yard waste from the landfill and it also helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by landfilled organic waste.
City Manager of Environmental Services Keegan Story presented a report about the new composting operations contract during a regular council meeting, April 1.
“By diverting the yard waste from being landfilled, the compost program has an approximate airspace savings value of $200,000 annually,” he said.
The City’s composting program began in 2019. It combines yard waste and woodchips to produce compost. He noted that annual production and sales have increased since the start of the initiative.
The composting operation, which is located at the City’s East landfill, receives and diverts an average of 4,000 cubic metres of yard waste each year. It has been unable to use all the incoming yard waste and the additional materials have been stockpiled at the landfill.
The intention is to use at least 5,000 cubic metres of yard waste and woodchips for the composting program in 2024. There will also be a change to the quality of the compost and a greater focus on quantity as a way to get rid of the stockpile of yard waste.
“In order to effectively manage our incoming yard waste and not keep contributing to our stockpile, we need to shift to be able to process more materials to be able to keep that out of the landfill,” he said. “We can produce a lower quality of compost and use it for landfill capping. By doing so, we have all the materials for the landfill and save a lot of costs at the time of closure.”
The East landfill is projected to remain in operation until 2030, when it will be decommissioned and capped with a layer of soil. The lower quality compost will be useful for this purpose and at the same time the yard waste processing will be more effective.
“We’d rather try to get away from having a pile of just yard waste to a stockpile of compost,” he said.
The change to the quality of compost being produced will help to reduce the cost of the new contract. The City received one tender submission from GFL Environmental Inc., which is the contractor responsible for operating the East landfill. The City negotiated a price that will result in contract
savings.
“The cost of operations has decreased for the 2024 season, bringing the program to a sustainable level to process the amount of materials collected through the City’s yard waste collection program,” Story said.
The cost of last year’s compost operations contract was $145,000. The annual cost of the new three-year contract, which was approved by council members, will be $83,718.10 (PST exempt, GST excluded).
The lower cost of the new contract is just part of the ongoing and potential future benefit of the composting program.
The City’s yard waste program is free and the composting operation therefore diverts a non-revenue product from the landfill to save space for waste and other revenue generating materials that are disposed there.
Landfills produce 23 per cent of Canada’s annual methane emissions and landfilling of organic waste contributes to those emissions.
Methane as a greenhouse gas is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide and more stringent regulations will probably include financial penalties when yard waste is simply disposed in a landfill.
“There are some greenhouse gas emissions regulations that are currently tabled and if those come through, it will likely be mandatory for organic diversion,” he said.
Council approves cover soil contract for East landfill:
Soil is used during the daily operation of the City’s East landfill to cover waste and a contractor provides the required material.
A new contract to provide landfill cover soils was approved during the regular City council meeting, April 1.
“The municipal landfill must maintain a consistent and reliable supply of cover materials to maintain regulatory compliance and operational efficiencies,” City Manager of Environmental Services Keegan Story said.
“These materials help to minimize windblown debris, reduce water infiltration and provide vehicle access to the waste tipping face as the landfill develops.”
The City received seven submissions to the request for proposals to supply landfill cover soils. Southern Star Trucking and Excavation Ltd. of Swift Current received the best score during the evaluation of submissions based on pricing, experience and qualifications.
Council therefore awarded the threeyear contract to this company at an annual cost of $89,280 (PST exempt, GST excluded). The total value of the contract is $267,840.
It will supply and deliver 1,000 tonnes of clay-like cover material per month at a unit price of $7.44 per tonne.
A soil layer of around six inches will be used at the end of each day to cover waste and an intermediate cover of about one foot deep will be used in areas where work is not taking place daily.
“We’ve got litter screens in place and then with the covering of it, we do everything we can to reduce and minimize blowing waste,” he said. “If waste does blow, the contractor is responsible for recovering the waste that blows away.”
Soil will be removed again when dumping of waste in a certain area of the landfill resumes. The goal is to reuse the soil to save cost and to ensure that airspace in the landfill is used efficiently to store waste.
“We peel away as much of that dirt as possible, but we obviously don’t recover it all,” he said.
“Every cubic metre of dirt that we place is one cubic metre less of waste that we’re able to place and in the landfill the airspace is our commodity, it is our value.”
HOPEFUL EVENING: An elegant evening of dining raised funds to benefit the community at the Kiwanis Swift Current Foundation of Hope Gala, April 11. The sold-out event at the Living Sky Casino was hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Swift Current. It featured live and silent auctions as well as other opportunities to support the fundraising initiative, and there was an atmosphere of giving during the evening. This was evident from the bidding during the live auction under the expert guidance of celebrity auctioneer Danny Hooper. The 12 live auction lots featured a variety of items donated by sponsors, ranging from a new Harley-davidson motorcycle to a hot tub and a pro sports weekend getaway. The live auction portion of the evening raised over $140,000 and several wildcard auctions raised over $32,000. The total amount raised from the event is still to be finalized. Proceeds from the 2024 Foundation of
Hope Gala will be donated to