Demolition costs unavoidable for municipalities

By Belle Hatfield

THE VANGUARD

http://www.thevanguard.ca

The costs of managing construction and demolition waste is becoming a catch-22 for municipalities in Yarmouth County.

The issue was raised by Warden Murray Goodwin at a recent meeting of the Yarmouth County Solid Waste Park. The warden said he was hearing from residents complaining about the costs of getting rid of demolition debris. Tipping fees at the park on the Hardscratch Road have increased twice in the last couple of years. It now costs $128.50 a metric tonne to get rid of unseparated demolition debris. That puts tipping fees costs for demolishing the average home at between $7,000-$10,000. Barns and unfinished outbuildings would cost much less per square-foot because theres no dry wall and little plumbing to deal with.

The waste park operates a construction and demolition site as part of its comprehensive solid waste management facility. In accordance with environmental regulations governing solid waste disposal, construction and demolition debris can only be disposed of at approved facilities that have the necessary environmental protections in place.

Although acknowledging the expense, the town of Yarmouths CAO Jeff Gushue told the board that, even with increases, tipping fees do not pay for the costs of operating within environmental standards.

Those environmental protections dont come cheap. While the park no longer has the authority to landfill regular household garbage (it is now trucked to Queens County for disposal) it does still landfill construction and demolition debris.

It costs the solid waste park management board (operated by the three Yarmouth County municipal units) around $500,000 to open a new construction and demolition debris cell.

The faster the cells are filled, the more expensive it becomes to operate the facility. That has helped propel the decision to raise tipping fees for unsorted waste.

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Demolition costs unavoidable for municipalities