A Saskatchewan rural municipality has won an environmental stewardship award for a landfill that can accept specified risk material from slaughter plants.The award was presented to the Rural Municipality of Canwood during the 2010 Saskatchewan Municipal Awards held May 14 in Regina.The Highway 55 Waste Management Corp. has been operating since February and is the only one of its kind in Saskatchewan.New regulations for disposing of SRMs are part of a stricter feed ban implemented two years ago to deal with BSE.RM reeve Richard Porter, who is also president of the landfill company, said the facility was built only after passing a vigorous environmental impact assessment.“We have a good clay base so that was what really attracted us to do it because we have the soil to handle it.”The 110,000 cubic metre pit is 160 by 120 by 12 metres and has a four to one slope. A loader packs and covers with clay each new shipment of the dry, brownish crumbly product.A deeply buried chain link fence surrounds the pit to keep out predators, while a clay covering prevents birds from scavenging.The landfill is fully operational with one full-time employee, but Porter said it is not running at full potential.“We’re doing very little right now.”Porter said the loss of large-scale cattle and hog processing in the province has reduced the volume of SRM material.Saskatoon Processing Co., a division of West Coast Reduction, is the only client.“Saskatoon Processing really doesn’t have a lot of material to bring us,” he said. “We’re probably doing an eighth of what we thought we’d be doing. We were figuring on getting maybe 200 tons a week and we’re getting 40 tons (one truck load) every three weeks.”However, he is confident business will improve.“We’re being partially funded to build this. I think we’ll be OK. We definitely need the business, but until it comes we will survive.”
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