Changes coming to the way IWMC manages western P.E.I. landfill following fire

P.E.I.'s Island Waste Management Corporation is making some changes to how it manages its Wellington landfill.

Saturday, a fire at the waste watch facility in the Prince County community brought firefighters from across western P.E.I. to extinguish the blaze.  

Crews arrived to find a pile of garbage on fire and the wind pushing the flames toward a grassy area, which could have led to further spread. 

Heather Myers, director of operations for IWMC, said the risk of fires at landfills is high, especially in the summer.

"Spontaneous combustion of decomposing waste can be one reason, improper disposal of flammable materials like lithium batteries and other flammables," Myers said Tuesday. 

"Could be the hot weather and very dry conditions like we're having over the last couple of weeks."

Risk mitigation

Myers said IWMC staff tries to lessen the risks of fires by compacting the waste into layers and driving out air pockets — and with less oxygen comes less chance of combustion.

But there's more to it than compacting. Crews also use clay to cover the waste twice a week so that it's not exposed to the environment. 

"Because of the incident we had on Saturday, we're going to increase that to three times a week while it remains hot and dry," Myers said.

"It can burn some of the material that may be on the surface, but it will go down and hit these clay barriers so that it doesn't spread deeper into the landfill."

Neglected vegetation

Saturday's fire was able to spread quickly due to grass and vegetation that was left to grow longer than it should have been.

"That is one problem that we ran into on Saturday, is the piece of equipment that we used to cut the vegetation around the landfill," Myers said.

"It's been broken down... and so the longer grass hasn't been cut down as soon as we would have liked, so that made conditions even more difficult to battle for the firefighters."

She said the equipment should be back in service this week.

Myers said the weekend fire is also a reminder for Islanders about the importance of sorting garbage properly. 

Things like lithium batteries and flammable hazardous waste can cause problems, while decomposing organic material can also generate enough heat to start a fire.

Myers said IWMC is covering the costs associated with Saturday's fire.