The City of Saskatoon warns there may be a noticeable odour in areas surrounding the landfill for the next while, depending on the wind. That’s because new landfill gas wells and piping are being installed at the Saskatoon Regional Waste Management Centre to expand the gas well field and to collect more methane from the decomposing waste.

The City says in a news release, this work will have no impact on air quality and is not a health risk to residents. The work began this week and is expected to last until late November.

Right now, the Landfill Gas Collection & Power Generation System removes about 50,000 tonnes of Greenhouse Gas per year, which is the equivalent of removing over 10,000 vehicles from the roads. When the expansion is complete, it will remove around 80,000 tonnes of Greenhouse Gas per year. The system currently produces enough energy to power 1,200 homes a year, creating about $1.3 million in revenue for the City from the sale of power to SaskPower.