Environmental Consulting, Project Permitting, Regulatory Liaison
The Task:
Redevelop a 50 hectare landfill over the next seven to 10 years into light office and industrial use.
The Client:
Ecowaste Industries Ltd. owns and operates the Ecowaste Landfill in Richmond, BC. The landfill accepts inert refuse, mainly from construction and demolition activities. Ecowaste Industries Ltd. either returns the material to the Earth, or renews the material into products such as compost, bark mulch and crushed concrete. (www.ecowaste.com)
The Challenge:
The landfill will continue to operate over the next seven to ten years, while closed sections will be redevelopment in stages. This phased redevelopment approach while the landfill remains operational does not fit into the Ministry of Environment’s (MOE’s) typical process for obtaining an Instrument.
The Solution:
PGL developed a new method to satisfy the MOE requirements that allow the client to meet their timing. As with all new processes, there was extensive consultation with the MOE to achieve their buy-in to the process. This process uses a dynamic risk assessment based on the landfills Design, Operating and Closure Plan to seek an interim Release followed by an Approval in Principle and then the final Certificate of Compliance for the site.
PGL has completed soil, groundwater, soil vapour and ambient air investigations to determine current Site conditions in support of the dynamic risk assessment.
Through phased construction, PGL continues to monitor groundwater and vapour conditions. Close communications with project proponent, the MOE, project architects, landfill engineers, geotechnical engineers and other consultants is required to keep construction on schedule.
The Result:
With a seven to ten year plan for full redevelopment of the property, work at the site is ongoing. PGL has worked with all stakeholders to ensure smooth transitions between operation, phased closure and redevelopment phases.
We continue to work closely with the client, the MOE and the community to allow this brownfield site to be redeveloped in a manner that meets the client’s needs while satisfying the MOE’s requirements.
For further reading, check out this article published by the Journal of Commerce: New Industrial Centre Rises from Construction Debris