BANFF – The Town of Banff is hauling its solid waste to Calgary instead of Camrose, cutting back on emissions.
A three-year agreement was signed in July to deliver the municipality’s solid waste to the Spyhill Regional Landfill following lengthy negotiations with the City of Calgary, with the first delivery starting on Aug. 1.
Chris Marvell, manager of resource recovery for the Town of Banff, said this change reduces the distance for every truckload by 500 kilometres, which saves about 250 litres in diesel fuel every trip, representing a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of more than 722 kilograms per trip.
“Additionally, the decreased travel time enables the reallocation of internal resources to haul materials from the drop-off yard, eliminating the need to outsource these services to a third party, as is currently the practice,” he said.
Since 2013, the Town of Banff’s solid waste had been shipped to West Dried Meat Lake Regional Landfill (WDMLL), which is located 30 km south of Camrose, and was an approximately 750-km round trip. The Spyhill landfill is about 125 km away.
Marvell said transitioning to different landfill operations also allows the Town of Banff to further reduce methane emissions from municipal solid waste disposal.
He said organic waste buried in a landfill decomposes in an oxygen-free environment, producing methane—a greenhouse gas he said is approximately 28 times more potent and harmful than carbon dioxide.
The Spyhill landfill in Calgary, Marvell said, is equipped with gas capture technology, which prevents a part of these methane emissions from reaching the atmosphere.
“A conservative estimate from the landfill operator shows that about 60 per cent of the methane is captured at Spyhill,” he said.
“At the current composition of Banff’s waste, every tonne landfilled creates emissions of about 1.29 tCO2e [tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent] without gas capture. Using the Spyhill landfill with gas capture, the emissions per tonne are reduced to about 0.51 tCO2e.”
While the annual fuel consumption for hauling is reduced by more than 80,000 litres, Marvell said the larger impact is the avoidance of methane emissions.
“With about 2,800 tonnes of avoided emissions annually, this operational change is likely the largest single measure of reducing community emissions for the Town of Banff without any additional cost to the ratepayers,” he said.
Although the tipping fees at the Spyhill landfill are significantly greater than the WDMLL fees, Marvell said the total cost of the municipal solid waste collection and transportation falls within the current approved budget.
Information on the rates under the new agreement with the City of Calgary isn’t publicly available.
Council went in camera under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) on sections related to advice from officials and disclosure harmful to economic and other interests of a public body to get those details.
Coun. Hugh Pettigrew, who requested the information, voiced support for the new deal.
“Catching the methane is the right thing to do and certainly travelling makes sense from an optical point of view and cost … so I appreciate that,” he said.
Banff also hauls solid waste for the Town of Canmore and Parks Canada.
