Kincardine Council is putting a strategy in place to keep landfill sites operating.
Plans have passed the Committee of the Whole level for 115 thousand dollars in engineering work by Conestoga Rovers and Associates to increase the capacity at the Ward Two Landfill Site.
The Ward One site is set to close in 2011, but the expansion work being done at Ward Two will make that location last for almost another 40 years.
The plan includes a capital budget to operate Ward Two, plus the existing Ward Three site, where some upgrades will also be made.
The Ward Two site will cost 365 thousand dollars from 2009 to 2011, and 415 thousand dollars for the following five years.
Ward Three will cost 95 hundred dollars from 2009 to 2011, and 119 thousand for five years after.
Mayor Larry Kraemer says the plan is fantastic because it actually cuts the operation cost per cubic metre of landfill by 50 percent.
Kraemer says the Ward Two expansion extends the life of the site from 10 years to 40, but acknowledges the 365 thousand dollar cost in the first couple of years does cause some up-front pain when it comes to budgets.
He says the landfill plans are good environmental planning because the proposal benefits most Kincardine residents for the rest of their lives, and for their children’s too.