Clover Bar landfill capping would be a 'significant reduction' in Edmonton's emissions

Thirteen years after closing to the public, Edmonton's Clover Bar landfill continues to release methane fumes, with plans to implement capture technology converting them into renewable biogas moving ahead.

Thirteen years after closing to the public, Edmonton's Clover Bar landfill continues to release methane fumes, with plans to implement capture technology converting them into renewable biogas moving ahead.

First opened in 1975, the Clover Bar landfill was the city's first engineered sanitary landfill featuring groundwater diversion and leachate treatment.

It was able to operate for 20 years longer than planned after recycling programs were brought online, finally closing in August 2009 after reaching full capacity.

According to the city's proposed waste services capital funding request for this budget cycle, safety and environmental enhancements to the landfill site need to be constructed, including erosion controls and a cutoff wall to prevent leaks into the North Saskatchewan River.

City council's utility committee met privately Friday to discuss the landfill-gas-to-renewable-gas conversion project. That was approved, also privately, in February 2021.

A landfill gas collection system has been in place since 1992, the capital profile report for the project notes. It is currently owned and operated by Capital Power under a contract that ends in 2024.

The city will take back control of the gas conversion site, but a condition assessment shows it needs upgrades to meet minimum environmental regulations.