The costs attached to closing a waste disposal site go beyond the actual closing of the site.
At the direction of Algonquin Highlands’ Director of Public Works, Adam Thorne, Cambium Incorporated has released a detailed account of how much closing each of the municipality’s landfill would cost the township.
Cambium Inc. explains in their report the price tag for closing the landfill as well as the costs that come after the landfill has been closed. Cambium says the expenses that go into closing a landfill are the final covering of the site, landscaping and the construction of site monitoring. Once the site is closed the expenses include site inspection, monitoring and maintenance and the construction or replacement of monitoring equipment. Cambium says the monitoring process includes ground and surface water testing, as well as an annual report to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
According to Cambium, if Algonquin Highlands were to close its landfills it would cost $243,700 to close the Hawk Lake site, $576,100 for the Maple Lake site, $365,800 for the Oxtongue Lake site, and $240,600 for the Pine Springs site.
In terms of the monitoring of each site, it would cost a minimum $7,000 per year.
The report can be found by clicking here.