A six-month lease of a waste shredder to the RDN's regional landfill could extend the life of the landfill by a decade. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

garbage plan

RDN rent waste shredder to extend life of Cedar landfill

Jul 12, 2023 | 5:48 AM

NANAIMO — The Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) is hoping to extend the life of its Cedar Rd. regional landfill by a decade.

During their Tuesday, July 11 board meeting, director’s approved a six-month rental of a waste shredder at the regional landfill, as well as an additional excavator for a total of $650,000.

Despite the cost, the RDN board found they would be able to save over $890,000 overall, thanks to the additional space created by shredding the waste which would expand the life of the landfill up to ten years.

A waste shredder was rented in January 2023 for about a month to see if the shredding process would indeed help increase density.

During the trial, they were able to increase density to 1.30 tonnes per cubic metre, compared to 0.93 tonnes per cubic metre of non-shredded waste.

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It also reduced the amount of litter blown around by the wind and packing shredded waste instead of non-shredded bulky waste was determined to be less impactful to the operator’s health.

Based on these results, RDN staff concluded a significant amount of space could be created if shredding was implemented for a longer period.

According to a report released by the RDN, the regional landfill receives around 60,000 tonnes of material a year, with the pandemic increasing those levels significantly.

In 2022 alone, 79,000 tonnes were added.

While they expect the amount of waste to return to pre-COVID levels in the next few years, they are concerned about the total lifespan of the landfill, which currently has another 20 years or so before additional space is needed.

As of 2023, there is approximately four years worth of space remaining before waste needs to proceed to phase four of the landfill, located in the southeast section

The RDN has been exploring different ways to expand the life of its regional landfill for a number of years now.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow