EXSHAW – A $550,000 capital budget project to purchase material for a liner to close a lime cell at the Francis Cooke Regional Resource Recovery Centre and Landfill will move forward.
The Bow Valley Waste Management Commission board approved the request on Aug. 18 as the lime cell at the south end of Francis Cooke is expected to begin being closed next year and be completed in about two to three years once work begins.
The cell, where waste is stored, would be the first to be closed at Francis Cooke and is about six hectares (15 acres).
The plan would see 50 centimetres of fill put on top of the liner and an existing application to Alberta Environment could potentially see the space above it used for resource recovery work. If approved, it would push the life of Francis Cooke from 30-35 years to 60-65 – essentially doubling its lifespan.
“I would like to be able to do resource recovery work up on the closed cell to use that real estate since it’s a large flat open area,” said Andrew Calder, the commission’s CAO. “As we move the lime cell operation and we’re taking up other parts of the site, you start to run out of space for piles of concrete and asphalt and processing work you need to keep doing.
“We’re not just a landfill; resource recovery is half of what we do and we need the space to do that.”
When work to close the cell begins next year, an impermeable plastic liner would be installed on the lime cell to form a cap.
Roughly 50,000 cubic metres of clean fill on the northwest of Francis Cooke would be used as part of the cap. Calder said grading of the cell has started and a drainage layer – required for the cell closure – is being investigated for the work needed.
Under provincial legislation, the cell and liner have to be monitored for a minimum 25 years after it’s closed.
The cost is estimated to be between $350,000 and $550,000, but it’ll ultimately be determined by potential supply chain issues and cost of materials. Delivery of the liner is anticipated to be spring or summer 2023.
According to a staff report and Associated Engineering’s memo, as of May the liner is about $4.67 per square metre with an average ranging between $4 and $8.25 square metres. The memo added material cost has increased by about 30 per cent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report noted there wasn’t a pressing deadline for the project, but “moving swiftly and allowing lime cell closure plans to progress by purchasing vital materials which are known to be required for the project.”
The commission’s closure/post-closure reserve at the end of 2021 was $1.67 million.
According to 2021 year-end financials, the commission’s various reserves have about $5.5 million for items such as general operating expenses, special projects and cell closures and post-closure monitoring.
Commission staff also returned with a report that Stoney Plain-based Mulch Co. was selected for just under $87,000 to clear about six hectares (15 acres) of trees and brush on the north side of Francis Cooke. The funds were already budgeted in the last approved budget.
The site would be cleared for a new cell, which would have about half of it be for lime. The cell would gradually be developed going to the west of the site.
A key part of the Alberta Environment application is to increase the height level permitted for waste. The existing one allows for it to be up to 13.28 metres above sea level, but with the west side of Francis Cooke being 13.30 metres above sea level an increase would be needed. Because of the mountainous topography, the site slopes down going west to east.
The height increase would allow for resource recovery work to be done on top of the soon-to-be closed cell, which would give Francis Cooke a nearly doubled lifespan.
“It makes it more efficient and a neater solution. A side benefit is we’d have increased site capacity as a result,” Calder said. “It’s still pending until Alberta Environment gives a decision. … It would be a great benefit to the community.”
