A representative of the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission was on hand at a council meeting to request the speedy adoption of a contract change that would allow outside municipalities to use the regional landfill.
Currently the commission accepts waste only from member municipalities ñ Olds, Sundre, Carstairs, Didsbury, Cremona and Mountain View County ñ at its landfill location northeast of Didsbury.
In recent years, tipping has decreased, dropping to an average of 15,000 tonnes (15 million kilograms) per year, from previous ranges between 20,000 and 25,000 tonnes.
In order to make up for the financial loss, which has prompted an increase in tipping fees, the commission is considering a change to their membership agreement to allow outside communities to use the landfill. Non-member users would be charged the current fee of $115 per tonne, while members would see a drop in their fees to $85 per tonne.
Patricia McKean, vice-chair of the commission, who presented the proposal during the Sept. 11 Olds council meeting, said the commission is trying to get approval from all member municipalities before its Sept. 30 budget deadline.
During the meeting, Coun. Mary Jane Harper expressed a concern that the proposal did not include a cap on the amount of waste from non-member municipalities.
According to McKean, the landfill currently has 25 years of "air space" ñ an approved amount of space to which waste is permitted to be piled, calculated based on tipping amounts over the previous 10 years. If the commission were to accept outside waste in order to increase revenue, this would also decrease the lifespan of the landfill.
McKean says that the reduced amount of air space would be offset by the recent discovery that the commission actually owns the Town of Didsbury's old landfill.
Additional revenue generated by opening up tipping to non-members could be used for new cell developments at the former Didsbury dump, increasing overall available air space.
McKean said they already have interest from several municipalities, including Banff, Airdrie, Crossfield and Calgary, in addition to private businesses.
While council was generally in favour of allowing non-member use of the landfill, there was extended conversation about the proposed wording of the membership agreement change.
The motion sought to amend the definition of waste, in order to open up the landfill to outside municipalities, and the commission's chief administration officer Pat Sliworsky admitted the wording was less than perfect.
Council made an amended motion "that Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission be allowed to accept waste material from outside municipalities; to a maximum of 15,000 tonnes per year."
