I boarded a school bus last week and was surprised to find several Yaqan Nukiy School students seated at the back.
“What on earth did you guys do to earn this punishment?” I joked. They smiled without comment.
We, along with several Lower Kootenay Band members, including Chief Jason Louie, and a contingent of Regional District of Central Kootenay directors and staff, were about to tour the Creston landfill site. It is operated by the RDCK on land that abuts Lower Kootenay land.
I was well aware that operating a landfill is no longer like it was in my younger years. I have memories of pulling into the dump, as it was known then, and being greeted by the stench of mixed garbage. Over on one side, there might have been a fire burning. In another corner one or more dead cows might be lying, bloated and abuzz with flies. Odds were, too, that one would find at least a couple of old guys scavenging through the piles in search of free treasures, which they would dutifully haul home until their next big cleanup, at which point the same items would be returned to the dump.
But that, as they say, was then, and this is now.
Our group was given a brief overview of the landfill by Mike Morrison, the regional district’s resource recovery manager. He explained that, while in some areas the landfill has reached a height where it has now been capped, the area has decades of life remaining as a landfill and that many steps have been taken to extend that life as long as possible.
At that point the tour was taken over by Dr.Tony Sperling, a provincial expert on landfills and a man who is about as enthusiastic about his work as anyone you would be likely to come across. Much of his information was directed to the students, couched in words that even the adults could understand.
As we wandered through the site, there were numerous comments that came from the group. Most common was that there was no smell and that it looked so clean and tidy. In fact, it had to be pointed out where the day’s garbage had been dumped. A heavy bulldozer-like machine, equipped with massive nubbed steel wheels and an enormous “pusher” on the front, rolls over new dumped trash to break it up and make it more compactable. The pusher is then used to ram the new trash against the old, keeping exposed garbage to a minimum in an effort to reduce the likelihood any will be blown away.
As we made our way to the western edge of the landfill, we could see that the section had now been “capped”. Once the waste had reached a pre-determined height a series of pipes had been installed to allow for the venting of methane gas that builds up from anaerobic bacterial activity. The land was covered with a water barrier membrane that forces rainwater to run off the hill, not seeping into the landfill and then leaching out the chemicals onto adjacent lands. Another protective membrane was laid down, then layers of clay and compost create a park-like surface that will grow grass and wildflowers.
Sperling pointed out that the Creston Valley landfill site has many benefits, including a large rock composition. An area of rock has been blasted away, providing more space for landfill. The blasted rock was then crushed into rip-rap that is used to create road bases through the site. A large portion was also crushed into gravel, which has several uses on the site. Mountains of bottles were crushed into a sand-like material that makes an excellent road surface and we could see the glitter on the roads as we drove along in the bus.
It was surprising to place one’s hand under the downspouts of the methane gas standpipes and actually feel the gas blowing out from underground. Eventually, Sperling said, the gas could be of sufficient quantity to burn it off as it exits the pipes instead of just releasing it into the air.
I think the general impression among our group was that we have come a long way in how we treat our waste, and that the efforts make sense. There was a very positive response to the news that a composting facility will be added, probably in the next year. It is heartening to be presented with evidence that, at least in this one area of human impact on the planet, we appear to be learning from past mistakes.
Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.