The Herbert Landfill will be closing in favour of a new, more efficient transfer station.

While for many years now, residential refuse in Herbert has been taken by truck to the Swift Current landfill, the town still had its own waste retention facility.

The location was no longer being used as a standard landfill, but as a kind of waiting area for items too big to be taken away by regular garbage trucks. Things like couches, cabinets, or old rolls of shag carpet and other out of use items that people need to dispose of. While it still held the title of 'landfill', it has already been operating as a transfer station.

Town of Herbert Chief Administrative Officer, Michelle Mackow, broke down the details of how closing the landfill works.

"We have to meet many environmental regulations and close it officially with the Ministry of Environment," detailed Mackow. "That requires a lot of engineering and we do an environmental site assessment, which we've already done, and then we do a corrective action plan, and that is what we're doing next."

The corrective action plan is underway, with funding rewarded by the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). ICIP is a joint operation between the Government of Canada, and the Government of Saskatchewan to provide funding for these kinds of projects in rural Saskatchewan.

The money being provided by the federal government is just over $280,000, the provincial government will be providing around $233,500, and the town of Herbert itself will add nearly $187,000 to the project. This brings the total expense for the transfer site conversion to approximately $700,000.

The money will be spent on renovating the offloading area for residents of Herbert, including adding in a Z-wall and driving surface to allow them to dump straight from their trucks or preferred transit into the bins. They will also be closing the existing landfill.

There should be no change to garbage pick up, costs, or schedule for residents of Herbert, as this is only a facility update and will not affect the current system for pickups.