The City of Melfort plans to decommission it;s current landfill, and build a new one. File photo/paNOW staff  

By Doug Lett

Melfort plans new landfill

Landfill costs a struggle for many communities

Mar 10, 2023 | 2:55 PM

The City of Melfort hopes to have a new landfill operating by late 2024. Melfort is among dozens of municipalities having to shut down existing landfills, because the sites do not measure up to new provincial regulations brought in several years ago.

The Melfort regional landfill serves 29 communities and RM’s, up to 100 kilometers away.

“There isn’t a firm deadline yet, but we hope to get the design approved this year,” said city manager Adam Homes. “The earliest would be sometime probably late fall next year,” he added, but it could take longer.”

Homes explained the new landfill will be lined, in order to prevent any leakage into the surrounding environment.

“So (many) existing landfills throughout Saskatchewan don’t have any liners,” he said. “So the (new) landfill will be lined with clay, and some areas will have synthetic liners as well,” he said, adding there will be a system of pipes to collect anything that leaks out, and the waste will be stored on site.

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Once the new landfill is operational, the current one will be decommissioned.

However, all this comes at a cost. Homes said the cost of decommissioning their landfill is around $2.3 million. Last year the city was awarded a $1.8 million federal-provincial grant to help, but the city is on the hook for the rest.

The cost of the new landfill is estimated around $5.8 million. And so far, there is no senior government help available, said Homes.

He said the landfill operates as a utility, so in the last few years the city has been raising fees, to help pay for the work.

“We try to keep the costs as low as we can. But some of the capital costs and new regulations require us to increase fees over time,” he said.

For example, in 2023, tipping fees at the Melfort Regional Landfill went up by 10 per cent, and fees per household went up by $3.50 per month.

Melfort is not alone in finding costs a challenge.

On March 3, SUMA, the umbrella group for the provinces cities, towns and villages called on the province to do more to help out. A SUMA news release said the cost of decommissioning landfills is a barrier, especially for smaller communities.

“Saskatchewan’s hometowns are asking for the Government of Saskatchewan to provide 25-year, interest free loans to smaller communities,” SUMA President Randy Goulden said in the release.

She said many smaller communities do not have the tax base to pay even a portion of the cost of decommissioning, when the total bill can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.