Oliver Landfill Organics Composting Facility

The Challenge

Keeping organics out of the landfill

Food, yard and agricultural waste made up more than a quarter of the tonnage buried at the Oliver Landfill, consuming airspace and generating landfill gas. The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen wanted to compost that material on site instead, extending the landfill’s life and producing a useful soil product for the community.

At the same time, the RDOS needed a long-term plan for the landfill itself, covering how it will be filled, protected and eventually closed under the BC Landfill Criteria.

Our Approach

A composting facility planned with the landfill’s future

• Composting facility design: designed the organics facility on a paved, graded pad along the western side of the site, with capacity for up to 5,000 tonnes of organics a year, including food waste.
• Facility layout: integrated a covered receiving and pre-processing building, the vendor-supplied aerated static pile system and a curing area where compost matures over 4 to 8 weeks.
• Leachate and stormwater: compost leachate is collected in a double-walled tank and recirculated to the piles, and collected stormwater is planned for reuse in compost moisture control.
• Project management: SHA managed the project through construction and commissioning in 2023.
• Design, Operations and Closure Plan: a full plan for the landfill, including a Landfill Criteria conformance review, filling plans, lifespan and contaminating lifespan analysis, and closure and post-closure costs.

The Outcome

More life for the landfill, compost for its closure

The facility opened in June 2023 with support from the federal and provincial Organics Infrastructure Program, and now takes food scraps and yard waste from the Town of Oliver’s curbside collection. The RDOS expects it to extend the life of the landfill by about 26%.

The two projects work together. SHA’s closure plan recommends an evapotranspiration cover suited to Oliver’s arid climate, blended on site from finished compost and local sandy soils, so the material diverted today becomes the landfill’s final cover tomorrow.