A new cell at the Yorkton landfill will be dug in the coming months.
“With the existing landfill cell nearing capacity, the City has let tenders for the construction of a new engineered cell,” explained Michael Buchholzer, director of Environmental Services with the City at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday.
This new cell will consist of a leachate collection system and a liner to avoid ground water contamination.
“The containment system equates to approximately 50 per cent of the total construction cost,” noted Buchholzer.
Buchholzer said construction of landfills is becoming much more regulated, and costly.
“With Saskatchewan having more landfills than anywhere else in the country, the Ministry of Environment is enforcing new requirements for the development and expansion of new or existing waste disposal grounds. Before approval is granted, the location and design must meet certain criteria and pass necessary technical evaluations,” he explained. “…The City of Yorkton has met the requirements of the Ministry and is able to construct its first engineered landfill cell.”
While a new cell is required Buchholzer said efforts to reduce the flow of materials to the landfill are a focus in the city.
“To efficiently operate a waste disposal facility, you must first assess other measures to eliminate waste or maximize air space from within the existing landfill,” He said.
The City has the following programs to deter or reduce the amount of waste entering the facility. They are:
*Recycling penalties and refusal of loads with recycling material,
*An Environmental Committee, whose mandate is to reduce waste,
*Residential and commercial recycling programs,
*Large scale composting program,
*Tiered landfill rates,
*Maximize air space by compacting waste with the contractor’s landfill compactor, and - Outside city landfill access agreements with the prerequisite for a recycling program
“These programs help deter unwanted refuse from entering the landfill but further programs should be investigated and existing programs should be refined,” offered Buchholzer.
Still the new rules are costly.
Based on the Ministry’s new requirements, the cost to construct a landfill cell has increased from approximately $4.00 per m3 to $115.00 per m3.
And one cell will not suffice for long.
“The landfill plan provides for the development of three more identical cells, equating to a total estimated cost of 12-14 million dollars based on the present bid,” said Buchholzer. “…This cell is estimated to have a four to five year capacity and with the additional land expansion and further phases will add another 75 plus years to the existing landfill.”
Local fees are likely to rise in the future as a result.
“With these new regulations and the increasing costs to operate a landfill, the city will have to implement increases to both landfill rates and its residential garbage fees. The new fee structure will be presented to council in the future,” said Buchholzer.
The cell cost was part of the budget talks.
“During the 2015 Capital Budget deliberations, Council approved $5,610,760.00 to design and construct the expansion of an engineered cell at the landfill. This cost included roadways, leachate collection system, and area fencing,” said Buchholzer.
Buchholzer said the City undertook a detailed tender process for the cell.
“The initial tendering protocol for this project applied a pre-qualification submission (RFPQ) authored by our consultants, Stantec Engineering. Due to economic slow-down, more municipalities are pre-qualifying contractors. This process provides for additional assurance to the city that bidding contractors have the ability and past experience to complete the project,” he explained.
“The project was advertised on Sask Tenders and City website allowing contractors to provide detailed submissions indicating their experience and expertise with similar construction projects, proposed methodology, company strengths, sub-contractors, financial capacity and any legal proceedings against the company. Using these criteria, the City’s evaluation team, consisting of six city staff and our consultant, Stantec, evaluated each proposal. The individual marks were then averaged by Stantec and an “accept” or “reject” grade was applied to the RFPQ.”
“…Twenty-two contractors submitted prequalification packages for the Phase 1 Landfill Construction Expansion. Twelve contractors were invited to submit contract bids. Of the twelve contractors, nine bids were received and opened in a “private” opening at Stantec’s Edmonton office.”
The lowest tender was from Acadia Construction at $2,479,532, although that is not the entire cost of the project.
A further $620,000.00 for project contingency, project management and materials testing and $810,000.00 for work outside the contract was approved, acknowledging that the total project cost of $3,909,532.00. It is with the amount in the 2015 Capital Budget.
