Here’s another throwback for you from 1974 showing the Vancouver Landfill in Delta.
The operation has undergone a number of substantial changes since those days.
The landfill opened on Jan. 1, 1966. The original agreement was for a term of 20 years and saw about 12 hectares (30 acres) filled annually. In 1999, Vancouver and Delta entered into a new long-term agreement whereby the operational life was extended to 2037. Garbage would be permitted to be piled higher on the existing footprint.
To be closed in phases, the Vancouver Landfill is authorized to accept 750,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste, including demolition waste, for disposal each year.
In 2017, it took approximately 740,000 tonnes. About 84,000 tonnes of regional waste was transferred to landfills in the United States last year. That amount was in excess of the combined capacities of the landfill and Burnaby waste to energy facility.
A Delta civic report notes Vancouver, which operates the dump, has completed a pilot project to divert construction and demolition waste from the landfill by processing the wood component into a fuel product for use by a cement kiln. The results of the pilot project are being used as part of the development of a business model to develop a full-scale permanent facility.
Meanwhile, staff discussed issues related to regional organic waste management and the need for a more comprehensive approach that ensures there is sufficient capacity to process organics in a manner that does not negatively impact the community that is hosting the facility, the report notes.
A $32 million closure project for the “Western 40 Hectares” of the landfill is expected to be completed by 2020. Other closure phases would then commence.
