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Cache Creek landfill extension set for September completion

Project has been delayed due to wildfires and floods over past two years
16914190_web1_190521-ACC-M-Campbell-Hill-LF-extension-graphic
A graphic illustrating the stages of the Campbell Hill Landfill construction. Image: Belkorp

Work on the Cache Creek landfill extension—now known as the Campbell Hill Landfill—is well underway, with crews starting last week on installing the secondary composite liner. It’s the fifth of 14 layers, and when finished the double composite liner will have been constructed to twice the new provincial standard, which calls for just a single composite liner.

“We have a target date of September 2019 to start receiving waste,” says Russ Black, president of Belkorp Environmental Services (Belkorp is the parent company of Wastech, which operates the landfill). “So far, so good. We had to shut down when it rained [last week], but that’s normal, and nothing special.”

Black says that the company had hoped to get the Campbell Hill Landfill up and running in 2017, following closure of the Cache Creek Landfill in December 2016, but that the 2017 wildfires and flooding in 2018 got in the way. “We were delayed because of reasons related to Mother Nature, but we’re excited to be rolling.”

READ MORE: Cache Creek landfill extension delayed until summer 2019

Negotiations regarding customers for the Campbell Hill Landfill are ongoing, says Black, who adds that once it is open, the municipal waste from Cache Creek and Ashcroft will be accepted at the site, although there will be a tipping fee.

A person who wished to remain anonymous sent a news tip to The Journal last week, claiming that a “credible source”—a former Cache Creek Landfill employee—had told them that “the cache creek land fill has permitting to develop a hazardous waste dumb [sic] with a primary goal to receive drywall asbestos from the greater Vancouver area.”

“We’re allowed to take bagged asbestos-containing materials,” says Black in response to the message’s contents. “We accepted it before [in the original landfill], and the landfills in Kamloops, Vancouver, and other places accept it. We’re no different to other jurisdictions.”

Speaking of the original landfill, Black says post-closure remediation of the site is going well. “We’re very happy with that. The water treatment plant dealing with chlorides from the fly ash that was deposited there is working very well.”

Over the life of the original landfill, funds were put aside to pay for the post-closure remediation, which will last for a period of 30 years. “We’re in year three,” says Black, adding that the post-closure remediation period for the Campbell Hill Landfill will be 100 years.

“We’re creating a trust fund to ensure there’s money there for the long-term,” he says, “in addition to the funds for the current post-closure remediation on the original landfill.”



editorial@accjournal.ca

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