Glenmore Landfill

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Note: Bird watching activities at the landfill are no longer supported. 

Glenmore Landfill

The Glenmore Landfill is owned and operated by the City and serves as the solid waste disposal facility for residents within the Central Okanagan Regional District. It offers a variety of disposal options on site including recycling, organic materials and household/commercial waste. The Landfill also sells OgoGrow and GlenGrow.

Glengrow is currently sold out.  Glengrow is expected to be available in mid to late March.  Wesbsite will be updated once available.

Landfill Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day
Retail Compost Loading: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wholesale Compost Loading (five yards or more): 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Friday. No loading on stat holidays.

Learn more about the Glenmore Landfill

Take a virtual tour of Glenmore Landfill

Waste guidelines for fire damaged materials

The McDougall Creek Wildfire Debris Waste Management Plan outlines options for affected property owners and their agents to manage wastes created due to the wildfire.

The Glenmore Landfill can accept several types of waste generated by the McDougall Creek Wildfire, but there are specific requirements and conditions for the disposal of each material.

Please reference the guidelines below before bringing fire damaged waste to the landfill. Standard tipping fees apply unless otherwise noted. 

Please note:

  • WorksafeBC requires a Hazardous Materials Assessment to be completed by a Qualified Professional prior to the demolition or renovation of structures or buildings. For questions regarding WorksafeBC requirements please visit worksafebc.com. The following Worksafe staff are available for clarifications:
  • Standard landfill requirements apply to all non-burnt structures, buildings, or portions thereof.
  • Any mandatory recyclables that can be reasonably separated from the waste must still be.
  • All burnt demolition and renovation debris waste, including ash, from structures or buildings is treated as a Controlled Waste and requires special handling.
  • Glenmore Landfill requires waste from fires to have been extinguished for a minimum of seven days before disposal to ensure that the waste will not re-ignite.
Concrete

The Glenmore Landfill is not the preferred location for disposal of concrete waste. There are several local private businesses in the area that accept concrete which is then crushed and reused.

Pricing has been provided by the businesses below and are current as of September 25, 2023. Pricing may change at any time. Contact the businesses in advance to verify pricing and clarify acceptance requirements. 

  • ARTHON  4875 South Perimeter Rd   250-764-8812 call in advance 
    • Pricing -   $40/tonne clean, $45/tonne with rebar,  Asphalt - $22/tonne 
  • ANSELL AGGREGATES   Two locations   250-769-4293 
    • Kelowna – 688 Willow Park Rd  
      • Pricing – Clean - $25/tonne, With Rebar - $44.50 oversize -$60, With debris - $100/tonne 
    • West Kelowna – Trepanier – follow signs to pit 
      • Pricing- Clean- $18/tonne, With Rebar-$45, Oversize -$60, with debris -$100 
  • AG APPEL Casorso Rd pit   250-861-1211 
    • Must set up account in advance of any delivery and require Hazard Clearance letter
      • Pricing - $350 per truck load, $175 per half truck load 
  • KELOWNA SAND AND GRAVEL – Gillard Service Rd   250-764-2695 
    • Pricing - $100/tonne no rebar or debris 
  • PIER MAC- Oyama Pit on 15651 Sawmill Rd, Lake Country   250-548-4061
    • Pricing – Clean - $35/tonne, With Rebar - $45/tonne
  • EMIL ANDERSON – Pit in West Kelowna off Stevens Rd,   250-762-9999
    • Call in advance, price will be negotiated prior to delivery
  • WESTLAKE PAVING/LAFARGE – 2455 McDougall Rd, West Kelowna   250-769-4166 
    • Pricing - $110/tonne clean concrete with no rebar 
Construction, renovation or demolition debris

Accepted at Glenmore Landfill:

  • Asbestos containing materials. Must follow Glenmore Landfill Asbestos acceptance requirements. Charged consistent to regular related fees.
  • Burnt demolition and renovation debris waste from structures or buildings, other than any waste containing asbestos. This includes ash and the top layer of soil with ash (approx. 6 inches), where a building, structure or vehicle has been burnt. Maximum container size is a 20-yard bin liner controlled waste containment sack. Containers must be properly sealed.

Please note:

  • These materials are only accepted for disposal on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. and charged regular garbage fees and a special handling fee of $50/MT.
  • Haulers must receive written approval from the landfill management a minimum of 24 hours prior to disposal.
    • To schedule a disposal appointment, Contact Landfill Administration at landfill@kelowna.ca Monday to Friday between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Please include in your email: 
      • Subject line: ‘Fire Debris Request’
      • Requested date for disposal
      • Expected volume (number and size of containers) for disposal
      • Attach Hazardous Waste Assessment Report and other supporting documents
Metals & white goods

Accepted at Glenmore Landfill: 

  • Recyclable metals - see complete list online
  • White goods (stoves, dishwashers, fridges, freezers, etc.). Please note that white goods must have food waste removed and residue rinsed prior to arriving at the landfill.
Green waste, vegetative debris, and prunings from tree waste

Accepted at Glenmore Landfill: 

  • Smaller green waste, fire damaged small woody debris and prunings (small branches or pieces of wood of less than eight inches in diameter).
    • 50% or less of the piece burnt: considered compostable and charged consistent to regular fees. You can also dispose of this in the property’s green waste bin. These must be separated from charred materials.
    • 50% or more of the piece burnt: considered as garbage and charged consistent to regular fees. Please do not mix with construction/renovation/demolition debris
Hazardous waste goods

Hazardous waste goods include products such as flammable liquids, pool chemicals, paint, pesticides, propane cylinders, and other materials banned from the landfill. For disposal options, please visit rdco.com/recycle or call 250-469-6250.

E-waste

E-wastes including computers, tablets and phones are all recyclable. Information regarding recycling locations is available at rdco.com/recycle or by calling 250-469-6250. Please ensure all batteries are removed and recycled separately as they pose a high risk of fire or explosion when not properly handled.

Contaminated soil disposal permit process

Any soil from an industrial process (sandblast grit, cement returns, etc.), environmental spill or a contaminated site may be accepted at the Glenmore Landfill if you obtain a Contaminated Soil Disposal Permit. Permit applications can be emailed to landfill@kelowna.ca. Two working days are required to review the permit application and provide a response.

Contaminated Soil Disposal Permit application form

Fees

The permit fee is $100 + GST ($105). Soil disposal costs are eight dollars per tonne if the soil is accepted. Payment can be made by cheque, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, cash or an established landfill account and is required at the time of transport to the landfill. You can contact the Glenmore Landfill at 250-469-8880 to provide your credit card number for the permit fee, or if you have any questions about the process.

Soil requirements

Contaminated soil is defined in the BC Hazardous Waste Regulation and Contaminated Site Regulation. The Glenmore Landfill is only permitted to accept contaminated soils below hazardous waste criteria that originate within the Central Okanagan Regional District or Big White.

Soil analytical results compared to the applicable soil standards are required. Soil parameters analyzed must be representative of the contaminants of concern. It’s required that a qualified environmental consultant collect and submit the samples to a reputable analytical laboratory. The application form details the Site-Specific factors used to determine acceptance criteria for Agricultural and Industrial Quality.

Hauling considerations

If your soil meets the landfill requirements, you must call the Glenmore Landfill and provide 24 hours of notice. The landfill typically accepts contaminated soils seven days a week but may not accept soils due to operational limitations in extreme weather. The following requirements must also be met:

  • Generally, up to 300 tonnes of soil may be shipped per day
  • Each load must have a completed, signed copy of soil manifest
  • The manifest will be provided by landfill staff to the Generator’s Qualified Professional and some portions will be pre-populated from the application
    • Section A must be completed and signed by the Generator’s Qualified Professional
    • Section B must be completed and signed by the Hauler
    • Section C will be completed by the landfill Scale House once the ticket is completed
  • Soil must be free of debris larger than three inches in diameter
  • The soil’s moisture content must be at a level at which it can be used as a spreadable garbage cover. Commercial tipping fees apply to all soils that are deemed unsuitable for use as cover material, as the material must be buried
  • Wet soil won’t be accepted
Landfill benefits and value to the community

We may not see the Glenmore Landfill or even think about it on a regular basis, but it’s an important piece of our community’s infrastructure - carefully constructed and planned from the bottom up.

What are the benefits of the landfill to the community?

Disposal of solid waste (garbage) is critical in any community. We have made progress over the years to make the Glenmore Landfill as sustainable as possible. The current fill plan allows us to extend the life of the Landfill rather than looking at new landfill locations or shipping waste out of the region for disposal – costly alternatives – and provides flexibility for the future. Disposal alternatives to the Glenmore Landfill have been estimated to cost our local residents over $400 million over the life of the landfill (based on an additional unit cost of $20 per tonne).

The value to operating the region’s main landfill includes:

  • The necessary expense of waste management and $3 billion in economic activity over the life of the landfill remains within the region, supporting jobs and local business
  • In addition to disposal of garbage, the landfill provides a convenient and important outlet for excavated soil, necessary to support cost effective construction and development
  • The landfill provides local inorganic processing and recycling for products such as broken concrete, asphalt, clean wood waste, etc., at a convenient and cost-effective location for residents of the region
  • The landfill provides a stable and cost-effective waste management solution over the next 70 years.

The long-term operational functioning of the Glenmore Landfill is a vital community asset, similar in scope and value to the Wastewater Treatment Facility and the Kelowna International Airport. Reduction or loss of the economic impact to the local economy of managing our own waste would be an estimated $3 billion over the remaining life of the landfill (estimated at 70 years) assuming that waste would need to leave the region for disposal.

Waste management costs would rise significantly to pay for the transfer and hauling of garbage to a facility outside of the region and the direct cost to taxpayers would be significant. Unplanned early closure would also cost in the tens of millions of dollars to cap and cover the Glenmore Landfill.

What does the landfill do?

Over the last five years, the Glenmore Landfill disposed of an average of 134,835 tonnes of waste and diverted an average of 57,928 tonnes of recoverable materials. This means that 42 per cent of waste received was diverted.

  • Organics are composted on site and sold as the soil conditioner GlenGrow
  • Clean dimensional lumber is supplied to a local forest products company in exchange for hog fuel that is used in the production of OgoGrow, a biosolids based compost produced at the Regional Compost Facility
  • Painted lumber that is source separated is chipped and beneficially re-used on site as padding material for mud control
  • Concrete and asphalt are re-used to build site roads
  • Scrap metal is sent off to market
  • Mattresses are deconstructed, with springs being recycled and the stuffing landfilled
  • Composting, wood waste grinding and site roads are watered during dry weather to help control dust
  • Site personnel pick-up litter within the site while a contractor maintains litter removal on Glenmore Road and John Hindle Drive
  • A variety of other nuisance controls are used at the site, including covering the garbage with soil, use of a spray-on mulch, bird control, hired pest control , berm construction, landscaping and mowing of the side slopes
What does the landfill do to protect the environment?

Without getting too much into the ick factor, rotting garbage produces liquid that could “leach” its way out of the landfill, and this “leachate” could potentially pollute the groundwater. The Glenmore Landfill has measures in place to prevent this.

Under the landfill is eight to 12 meters of natural clay that functions as the liner to keep the leachate within the landfill.  At the edges of the site, where the natural clay thins, synthetic liners are installed. Above the liner is a leachate collection system.

The leachate collection system at the Glenmore Landfill consists of perforated pipes that collect the leachate from under the landfill. Pump stations and gravity drains then feed to the leachate lift stations. Leachate is treated and aerated onsite. Odours from the aeration are further treated onsite using a specialized biofilter. The treated sewage/leachate is discharged into the municipal sanitary sewer system on Glenmore Road and is ultimately treated at the City’s Wastewater Treatment Facility.

The landfill has a significant environmental monitoring program, including more than 80 ground water wells on and off site that are monitored quarterly for elevation and sampled for analysis semi-annually. Wells are added or decommissioned based on an annual review of the program by an external consultant. In addition to the water wells, there are five landfill gas monitoring wells. These were installed in 2016, and this network will be evaluated and expanded as required over the next two to three years.    

Sustainable energy features have been incorporated into the Landfill Administration Building. This includes earth tubes for heating or cooling the building, solar panels to heat the water, composting toilets and the use of engineered beams from pine beetle wood.

What is leachate recirculation?

The landfill’s leachate recirculation system was completed in late 2017. The purpose of leachate recirculation is to collect the water from beneath the landfill, which is pumped back into covered waste cells through landfill gas collection trenches. The concept is that the recirculated leachate will increase the in-situ moisture content of the waste. This would further encourage anaerobic decomposition in the buried waste cells, generating increased amounts of methane (and other landfill gases), which would result in increased throughput of landfill gas to the Fortis BC Biogas Plant.

What happens to gas created by the landfill?

Composed of more than 50 per cent methane, landfill gas is an ideal energy source and is captured through a series of underground pipes called a recovery system. The Glenmore Landfill has collected landfill gas for utilization and flaring since 2005, and has installed more than 16 kilometres of landfill gas collection pipes. Visit the Landfill gas management section (link) below

For a number of years, micro-turbines were used to create electricity in a pilot program.  When use of the micro-turbines was stopped, the City entered into an agreement with FortisBC to convert the landfill gas into a renewable natural gas that can be returned to the FortisBC pipeline and used as natural gas. While the FortisBC Biogas plant is operational, the landfill flare continues to be used as a back-up system.

How does the Landfill manage wildlife?

An updated Avocet Habitat Enhancement and Rehabilitation Design was completed in 2017. The scope of the project was to assess existing and future options for alternate avocet habitat off the landfill site.

Vector (bird) control is done by using a combination of distress calls, harassment and daily cover. A falconer continues to assist in reducing the impact of nuisance birds on the landfill.

What does the landfill do about odour control?

The waste disposed at the landfill is covered with a spray-on mulch material at the end of each day and the top is covered with a layer of clean soil and wood chips as a working pad. On an ongoing basis, entire landfill “cells” will be completely covered with soil. Covering the waste as soon as possible minimizes odours. Every winter, new landfill gas lines are installed in the garbage. By installing these gas lines and actively removing the landfill gas, odours from the garbage are pulled out of the landfill and managed either by flaring or are removed in the FortisBC Biogas plant. 

In the composting area of the landfill, odours are generated when the wood chip piles being composted loose all of the oxygen and become anaerobic. To prevent this, the composting operations actively manage the windrows by watering the piles and by turning them with an excavator. In the next three to five years, a new system will be installed called an Aerated Static Pile system. No specialized equipment is required for this system, which uses blowers to introduce the oxygen and speed up the composting process; compost can be made in 55 days versus 12 months and the same volume of material can be processed within a smaller footprint.

How long will the landfill be accepting garbage?

An adaptation to the 2008 fill plan, approved in 2017, will allow the landfill to be operational for another 70 years. Updates to the 2008 fill plan allow the City to better use the current geography in the area so the landfill will continue to blend into the natural terrain of its surroundings as it grows.

When the landfill does eventually close, the areas of the landfill that are at the final elevation would be lined, covered with topsoil and revegetated.

Landfill and surrounding land development
  • The Provincial “Compost Facility Requirements Guidelines: How to Comply with Park 5 of the Organic Matter Recycling Regulation” states that the buffer zone for residential development should be a minimum of 400 to 1,000 meters
  • The Provincial “Landfill Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste (2016)” states that there must exist a minimum buffer zone of 500 meters between the base of landfilling to “sensitive land use,” either planned or existing. While the landfill is exempt from this siting criteria as it existed before the criteria was established, it would have to be considered in the event of future lateral expansions.
  • The Landfill has and will continue to occasionally impact adjacent properties due to nuisance from noise, odour and dust. It can also be considered a visual nuisance. As a critical City asset expected to be operational for a minimum of 50 years, careful planning for the surrounding land uses must be carefully considered to be consistent with the operational influences of this vital civic infrastructure. The City strives to balance future planning and evaluate the overarching community benefit of a municipal landfill with development in order to achieve the long-term community vision.
Landfill gas management

Every day in Kelowna some 300 tonnes of garbage arrive at the Glenmore Landfill. As this garbage decomposes, greenhouse gases (such as methane and carbon dioxide) are produced and enter the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.

Today, landfills are being recognized as a source of valuable energy, providing heat and electricity for public consumption if handled effectively. Composed of 50 per cent methane, landfill gas is an ideal energy source and is captured through a series of underground pipes called a recovery system. 

Learn more

The Glenmore Landfill has collected landfill gas for thermal destruction and for utilization since 2005. The volume of gas will increase over the next five to 10 years and will be significant for another 50 years or more. In 2010, a business case was completed for transitioning to use more landfill gas either for increased electrical production or for conversion to pipeline gas. The study, which compared utilization options, concluded that the financial return on the two options was relatively equal. However, the study did identify that a utility or third-party ownership could provide additional benefit to the City through reduced operational risk, the provision of initial capital investments, increased green house gas reduction and by achieving higher efficiency of gas destruction for energy conversion. The open book collaborative approach through the Landfill Gas memorandum of understanding has now provided a signed contract with FortisBC.

The purpose of the Landfill Gas Purchase Agreement is for Fortis BC Energy Inc. to purchase landfill gas from the City contingent upon the City meeting minimal flow and quality requirements. Fortis BC will buy our raw gas and intends to finance, design, build and operate a conversion facility to enable the gas to be upgraded to pipeline natural gas quality. When converted to pipeline quality gas, the landfill gas becomes bio-methane. The Landfill Gas Purchase Agreement for a 15-year term has a net present value of $3.1 to $4.8 million.

In October 2012, Fortis BC Energy Inc. received British Columbia Utilities Commission approval for the project. The next step in the process is to design and construct the required infrastructure to meet the contractual obligations as laid out in the Landfill Gas Purchase Agreement. Specifically, the City's obligations are to provide the piping to a landfill gas to bio-methane conversion facility and to make commercially best efforts to maintain the minimum quality and quantity of landfill gas as specified in the agreement.