Warwick Council has thrown its weight behind a proposed collaboration between the Twin Creeks landfill site and a greenhouse operation to be built near the landfill which will employ up to 25 people.

Council has passed a motion supporting an amendment to the landfills Environmental Compliance Approval to allow gas from the Watford-area site to be used at the greenhouses for heating. The project involves minor modifications to the blowers at the landfill and construction of a 1.8-kilometer pipeline from the landfill to the proposed greenhouses east of the Waste Management site on Zion Line.

Modifications at the landfill blower building include the addition of heat exchangers to reduce the temperature of the gas prior to sending it in the pipeline to the greenhouses.  The pipeline is designed to carry up to 2400 cubic feet per minute of landfill gas.

“It’s a relatively simple application (to the Ministry of the Environment) that we hope it can be dealt with fairly quickly,” said landfill director of operations Reid Cleland during a short presentation to council on Monday.  “This is a good news story for our community.”

The greenhouse operation is expected to create up to 25 new jobs.

Councillor Jackie Rombouts asked Waste Management to keep the lines of communications open in case council or the community might be able to do anything more to speed up the process would typically takes between six months and a year to complete.

“I think it (the project) is great,” Rombouts says.