The recycling facility at the Westlock Regional Landfill will undergo an expansion in the coming months that will see it double in size to handle the increase in materials being discarded there.
The Westlock Regional Waste Management Commission made it official at its Jan. 25 meeting, awarding the $484,000 contract to Atkinson Construction, out of Edmonton. It will cost another $80,000 to bring in three phase power to the expanded building.
The commission consists of members of the Town of Westlock, Westlock County and the Village of Clyde.
“In the last year we’ve more than doubled the amount of recycling materials we’ve been handling,” said landfill manager Tom Moore. “More and more commercial businesses are also stating to bring us their cardboard. Instead of filling up their GFL bins with cardboard they’re bringing it to us.”
The 40-by-75 foot expansion to the current recycling building will be used for storage and to provide a location for commercial companies to drop their recycling, whether it be cardboard, plastic or tin. Glass is not recycled at the landfill due to a lack of a market.
Moore is also hoping part of the expansion includes a sorting table and a granulator, which breaks plastic down into smaller pieces which can then be shipped away for sale.
“The revenue will basically cover the cost of the operation, it’s not going to be a big dollar revenue source,” said Moore.
“The idea is to expand what we can do for our area here and being able to add some more employment back into the region,” he said.
Moore also pointed out that all the residential recycling from the town, county and village goes to GFL’s recycling facility in Edmonton.
With the completion of the expansion, the landfill could handle that additional material, resulting in a few more local jobs and revenues going back to the commission.
“When I was hired I was asked to help to look towards the economy of our community and so that’s part of what we’re doing here,” he said.
“The building itself is actually going to be self-supporting, by that I mean, the extra revenue that we’re going to generate from the plastics as well as increased recycling of cardboard, will actually offset the cost of the building.”
Westlock County deputy reeve Brian Coleman made council aware the contract had been awarded at its Jan. 25 meeting.
He noted that none of the money from the recently instituted residential fee is being used for the project, but remaining money from a previous grant would be used to bring in three phase power.
Payments for the expansion will come to $33,000 a year, but reiterated that the expected additional revenue will cover the cost of those payments.
By encouraging recycling among residents, the expansion will also result in other rewards, said Coleman.
“By expanding the recycling we can expand the use of the cell by about a year, which will save $80,000 to $100,000.”
