After nearly 14 months of work, construction of a new $4.5 million landfill cell at the Launceston Waste Centre is nearing completion.
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Work began on the major new cell in January 2016 and the project is expected to be completed by the end of March, with the work being undertaken by Shaw Contracting.
The new cell covers an area of 44,500 square metres, equivalent to two AFL football fields.
The project has involved the excavation of more than 32,000 cubic metres of clay, with the cell dug to a depth of more than 10 metres.
The new cell is expected to handle Launceston's landfill needs for the next five to six years.
Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said the construction of a new landfill cell was a major investment for the city.
“Building a landfill cell is an expensive and technically challenging process, and as a city we need to be extremely careful about how we manage these cells into the future,” he said.
“Our priorities are to divert as much waste away from landfill as we possibly can, because so much of what we throw away can be re-used, re-cycled or re-purposed. That is why in recent years we have opened the re-use shop Uptipity, why we've expanded our recycling centre, and why we are launching new services like the organics collection service that will be introduced this year.”
Ald van Zetten said electricity is also generated at the Launceston Waste Centre, using special pipelines to extract methane gas from old, disused landfill cells.
“The council is proactive when it comes to diverting waste from landfill and extracting the resources we can from what people throw away,” he said.
“This new landfill cell is an important element in the suite of waste management and resource recovery options the City of Launceston provides to residents of Northern Tasmania.”
To meet the highest environmental standards, the cell is lined with special materials to prevent leachate from contaminating ground and surface water.
The liner consists of a compacted clay layer and a geosynthetic clay liner, which act in tandem to create an impermeable barrier between the contents of the cell and the natural environment.