The city is almost done with a project to cap four cells at its landfill.
An inspection of the Kitchener Street waste diversion site by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks resulted in the city being asked to start capping certain areas of the landfill.
The project is intended to divert stormwater and snow melt from the capped cells.
The city had originally planned to cap cells 1 and 2, at a cost of $3.4 million, and cells 3 and 4, at a cost of $2 million, separately.
“We were planning on doing this project in a staged process, but we can save a lot of money if we do all of the cells together,” said Greg Preston, manager of environmental services.
That means, so far, the project is under budget, though the exact cost won’t be known until the work is done.
In a recent memo to city council, staff noted all four cells are ready for final capping and the project is expected to be finished in mid- to late October.
“It’s gone pretty smoothly,” Preston said.
There are 12 cells at the landfill. The city plans to cap two more in about five years. The remaining six will also eventually be capped.
“There’s no point in capping the entire site if we’re still using it for waste,” Preston said, noting the landfill has 40 to 45 years of life left.
As part of the current capping project, improvements were able to be made to the roads at the waste diversion site by laying recycled asphalt to minimize dust, he added.
