As work on expanding the Altona/Rhineland landfill winds up, both municipalities are forging ahead with a plan to extend the life of the facility through waste diversion.

Both the town and the municipality have hired J.R Cousin Consultants to review their proposal for a waste diversion system that would keep more materials out of the normal waste stream.

"The idea is similar to our blue bin recycling program where we try to take waste and reuse it or repurpose it," said Altona CAO Dan Gagne.

According to Gagne, there are several ways to deal with the various waste streams that end up at the landfill, whether it's by selling metal to a scrap yard, or turning discarded drywall into compost.

"It's more to do with the industrial and commercial side where we can take these waste materials and convert them into a commodity that can be used in another process."

JRCC has been gathering input from both councils and landfill staff and will use that information to develop a proposed layout of the waste diversion area that would be a part of the overall landfill space.

"We brought J.R. Cousins into this project to, not only develop the layout but to help us successfully pull it off," said Gagne. "We've seen different models such as Winnipeg's Brady Landfill which uses a loop design in its waste diversion process. Other places use bins to haul waste back and forth to a central compound. Those are the kinds of things being considered in our design."

Once both councils approve the final proposal, the project will go to tender.