7 MILE — New uses for old materials offer North Island residents and contractors a chance to save money in tipping fees while extending the life of Seven Mile Landfill, Regional District of Mount Waddington operations manager Patrick Donaghy said.
As part of a one-year pilot project, Duroid (asphalt) shingles will be accepted at the landfill for $25 a ton, down from the $115 that has been charged per ton of material.
The news is even better on the cardboard front, where soiled and waxed cardboard will now be accepted at no charge, along with clean, recyclable cardboard.
There is a bit of work involved for customers before they arrive at the landfill, Donaghy warned. But those who make the effort will see some real savings.
“It has to be clean,” Donaghy said of the shingle material. “They need to get the wood and paper off the duraloids. If they do that, they will pay less than 25 per cent of what they had been paying in tipping fees.”
Clean cardboard has always been accepted for recycling with no fee. But soiled and waxed cardboard had to join the general waste stream at the $115/ton rate and, if landfill staff discovered clean, recyclable cardboard mixed with the garbage, a surcharge pushed that rate to $230 a ton.
Now, if customers pre-separate the clean from the soiled and waxed cardboard, it will all be free to drop.
The soiled and waxed cardboard can be added to the HOG fuel the landfill currently creates from tub-ground wood, which is mixed with other biosolids (organic material) as compost.
“We found we can put that cardboard in with the HOG fuel,” said Donaghy. “We’re telling people we want cardboard out of the waste stream. We’re asking them to please separate the clean from the waxed and soiled cardboard. If they do that, there’s no tipping fee in either case.”
A new use for the old shingles is also behind that project. Donaghy said they can be placed as a mat on softer ground and covered with rock to create a sub-base for roads on landfill property.
“We think there are other uses for these used duraloids because of the high degree of energy in them,” he said. “Sometime in the future we may even contemplate having no tipping fees, if a recycling market develops (for asphalt shingles).”
