Changes Are Coming to the Camrose Regional Landfill

Over the past year, the Camrose Regional Solid Waste Authority, which is comprised of elected officials from the City of Camrose, Camrose County and the Village of Bittern Lake, has been examining options for future waste management operations at the Camrose Regional Landfill. At their May 30, 2022 meeting, the Authority decided to transition from the current Camrose Regional Landfill operation to a Transfer Station operation.

“Careful thought and discussion went into this decision to ensure costs and liability would be mitigated and service level disruption kept at a minimum,” stated Authority Chair Kevin Hycha. “The Landfill Authority voted unanimously to move from the existing landfill operation to a transfer station - operation. Additional waste diversion activities at the site, such as composting and recycling, will continue to operate.”

The Camrose Regional Landfill has been in operation since 1984 and is made of 19 “cells.” The current cell (the area for the waste) is reaching capacity so the Authority needed to approve the construction of a new cell or consider other operational models.

In order for a landfill to be self-sustaining, user fees, also known as tipping fees, must generate enough revenue to cover the entire life-cycle costs for the facility. Life-cycle costs include annual operating expenses, cell construction costs, closure costs, and post-closure monitoring costs, which are ongoing for at least 25 years after closing a cell.

Significant increases to the closure and post closure costs of cells at the Camrose Regional Landfill were identified in 2021. As well, internal reviews of life-cycle costs for the Landfill indicated that, in order to sustain the Landfill operation, the tipping fees would be required to be increased to a point that makes the Landfill noncompetitive.

“The Camrose Landfill was suitable in its day, but as Camrose grew the long narrow design, proximity to the City limits and Stoney Creek, the high water table and limited Air Space (volume of waste that can be disposed of) at the Landfill makes this site very difficult to manage,” Chair Hycha stated.

A transfer station allows users to bring waste to the existing site and drop it off into large bins that will then be transferred to a larger regional landfill rather than disposing of it onsite.

For City residents, there will be no impact to the current curbside service from this decision, however, they may see an increase to their waste collection bill in 2023 as the current contract for curbside collection expires at the end of 2022 and these fees have remained the same since 2016. Users bringing waste to the Landfill will see an increase to tipping fees starting July 1st.

“Given the imminent fee increases and the need to extend the operational life of the current cell, it is recommended that large volume haulers consider the use of alternate regional landfills such as West Dried Meat Lake Landfill or Beaver Regional Landfill for their waste,” City of Camrose General Manager of Infrastructure Kris Johnson stated.

Design work for the transfer station will begin shortly and is expected to be operational by fall 2023.

For any inquiries please contact Municipal Engineer Greg Lewin at (780) 672-4428.