They’re planning for the end at the Vancouver Landfill in Delta.
Signed in 1999, Metro Vancouver, Delta and the City Vancouver, which operates the garbage dump next to Burns Bog, currently have a tripartite agreement which ends in 2037.
The agreement also stipulates an end use plan for the Vancouver Landfill be developed that meets with Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy's approval.
Vancouver also committed funding to complete the closure work.
A report to council this week notes that Vancouver and Delta officials met last month and have initiated a process to develop an end use plan that identifies potential future land use options.
Those options will be presented at a council workshop for review and feedback.
“The End Use Plan could include a mix of potential future uses for the land, including natural areas, environmental buffer areas around the perimeter, and active light industrial uses in the center, such as recycling and waste diversion infrastructure and green energy opportunities. In addition, opportunities to support the Highway 99 green corridor will be reviewed,” the report notes.
“As part of the closure planning process for the Western 40 Hectares area of the landfill, Delta Council directed that the area be closed in a manner that allows for a natural state as possible. As previously noted in this report, the work to complete the closure of this area is nearly complete. Pending the outcome of the end use planning process and to maximize the potential future uses in the remaining phases of the landfill, Vancouver has been requested to design the landfill crest in the remaining areas to be filled to be as flat as possible,” the report adds.
Work is now underway for the closure of the currently-active area and future phases of the landfill
Mayor George Harvie wrote a letter to his Vancouver counterpart, Kennedy Stewart, saying, “I am particularly interested in investigating the possibility of landfill lands being used to support increased transit use and bus frequency along the Highway 99 corridor in the future, and to help facilitate the transition to battery electric buses.”
Harvie added, “Given the increased quantities of regional waste being disposed of at the Vancouver Landfill, the remaining landfill phases are filling up quickly. We respectfully request that the crest of the landfill of current and future phases be designed to be as flat as possible to maximize potential end uses, pending the outcome of a comprehensive end use planning process.”
The landfill agreement also contains a separate agreement on the operation of the landfill, which includes the royalties paid to Delta on the amount of waste received.
Delta also gets free disposal of household waste.
There is more physical capacity available, meaning more waste could be disposed of at the landfill with a new agreement between Vancouver and Delta.
A Delta engineering department memo last year noted an early closure of the Vancouver Landfill “could have a significant financial impact to Vancouver and Delta.”
The city’s finance department told the Optimist that Delta received over $1.8 million for hosting the landfill the previous year.
