New landfill cell to open at Jackson Street Waste Management Centre

A new landfill cell at the Jackson Street Waste Management Centre is about to become operational after receiving official sign-off from the Environment Protection Authority.

Glenorchy Mayor Bec Thomas said the $3.5 million cell would extend the life of the Jackson St site for a further 10 years, saving the community the significant costs of transporting waste to landfill sites outside of the municipality.

“As a council, we have made a strategic investment in our waste management centre by constructing this cell to provide a further decade of landfill capacity,” Mayor Thomas said.

“The new cell is specifically engineered to manage and contain runoff and can now be used following sign-off from the regulator.”

Mayor Thomas acknowledged the support of the Australian Government in enabling the new facility, with $1.6 million in funding provided through the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program.

“Our community is more aware of waste management, and the need to ensure it occurs with minimal environmental impact, than ever before. This new cell provides an appropriate landfill site that will serve the community for years,” she said.

“As an engineering exercise, building a new landfill cell is a major undertaking, and I congratulate all of Glenorchy City Council staff who were involved in the project, along with our contractors, Downer, for their exceptional efforts and workmanship which saw tens of thousands of cubic metres of material removed to make way for the cell.

“Any project of this size poses challenges, and the fact that it was being constructed in an existing landfill site meant that the council and Downer worked closely to overcome challenges posed by the location.” 

The new cell was built inside an existing quarry void, with the project seeing a special lining installed along with careful shaping to capture any leachate.

The base of the landfill cell is lined with compacted clay which is covered with a woven clay product that swells when exposed to moisture, creating a seal. That is in turn covered by an engineered plastic liner protected by a cushioning layer, and a layer of fine rock which contains the drainage system that captures any water in the waste.

In the short term, the general public will still be required to use the existing landfill cell for waste disposal, with the new cell to be used initially for commercial disposal until a base layer has been established over the cell lining.