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Landfill may be closing this summer

Closure activities for the Cache Creek Landfill may mean closing it sooner than expected.
69798ashcroftNEWSlandfill16Jan28
A waste hauler in the tipper while another one waits its turn at the Cache Creek Landfill.

The Cache Creek Landfill may be closing this summer after all.

Metro Vancouver has been sending out mixed messages lately regarding the Cache Creek Landfill, announcing that it would be sending more 50,000 tonnes more this year than it had originally planned while publically acknowleging that it was rethinking the idea of incinerators. Closure of the landfill was years ago set for mid-summer of this year, but that deadline was moved to December as the waste continued to flow from the Lower Mainland.

Just after announcing that it looked like the landfill would be accepting waste until the end of the year, Cache Creek’s mayor says it looks like closure is once again scheduled for mid-summer.

Mayor John Ranta said he was notified on Friday by Wastech that MV appeared unwilling to spend any money for the landfill in 2017 “and that to close the landfill by then we may need to stop accepting waste earlier to allow for landfill closure activities,” he said.

“I don’t know if the decision is final at this point,” said Ranta. “There may be room for discussion with Metro Vancouver.

Landfill closure is a certainty, but the Village and Belkorp want to have the landfill Extension ready to accept garbage before the Landfill closes.

“What we’re hoping is that the Operating Certificate for the Extension is in place in a timely fashion,” he said. “If the Landfill closes and Extension is not in place, where will TNRD put their garbage?”

“We are definitely in a period of uncertainty,” he added.

The Village of Ashcroft also deposits its municipal garbage at the Landfill. If the Extension is not ready before the Landfill closes, it will be up to the TNRD to find a place to take Ashcroft’s garbage.