Planned 43 sq. km. landfill site for Metro Vancouver sold to First Nations | Daily Hive

Planned 43 sq. km. landfill site in B.C. Interior for Metro Vancouver's needs sold to First Nations

Location of the Ashcroft Ranch, B.C. (Google Maps)

Metro Vancouver Regional District has ended its ownership of the Ashcroft Ranch in the interior of British Columbia after a quarter century.

In 2000, the regional government — which manages the Metro Vancouver region’s bulk solid waste disposal services on behalf of the municipal governments — acquired the Ashcroft Ranch for their plan to turn a portion of the 10,700-acre (43 sq. km.) ranch into a new landfill, providing long-term waste disposal capacity.

This property is nearly 11 times larger than Stanley Park, or roughly one-third the size of the city of Vancouver. It is located south of Cache Creek — near an old landfill for Metro Vancouver — and a roughly one-hour drive west of Kamloops.

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During the regional government’s 25-year ownership of the property, Ashcroft Ranch saw continued cattle ranch uses.

However, the conversion of a portion of the property into a new landfill is no longer deemed necessary.

After conducting a bidding process, the regional government recently sold Ashcroft Ranch to Kntam — the economic branch of the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council (NNTC), which is comprised of the First Nations of Lytton, Skuppah, Boothroyd, and Snepa and Ntequem.

The deal with NNTC was finalized on April 2, 2025, with the regional government deeming the $28-million sale price to be “fair market value.”

Location of the Ashcroft Ranch, B.C. (Google Maps)

“This has been a carefully considered and meaningful process, and we are pleased to sell this important land to the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council. Their connection to this area is deep and enduring, and returning this land to the NNTC is an excellent outcome that will provide incredible benefits to their community members,” said Mike Hurley, chair of the regional government and the mayor of Burnaby, in a statement.

The NNTC intend to turn the property into a community hub, with housing, recreation, education, medical facilities, elder care, and a cultural centre, alongside ranching and farming operations for food security.

“The fundamental law of the Nlaka’pamux is ‘Take care of the land and the land will take care of you.’ We bought back our land so that we could take care of the land and have the land provide for our people,” said NNTC chief Matt Pasco.

“We are pleased to work with Metro Vancouver and others who choose to recognize and respect our connection to the land. What is good for the Nlaka’pamux is good for all.”

According to the regional government, the new landfill is no longer necessary, as Metro Vancouver has pivoted its waste disposal strategies over the past few decades to focus on waste reduction and recycling, which has successfully diverted a larger proportion of waste from landfills. The average waste generated per household is now 0.46 tonnes, with households living in multi-family buildings (such as condominiums) producing less waste than those in single-family houses.

However, a driving factor for annual fluctuations in waste is the amount of garbage received from construction and demolition recycling facilities, with those facilities sending some garbage to alternative disposal sites.

There is a growing push to divert construction and demolition waste from landfills, moving away from practices such as sending the debris from a single-family home demolition directly to the dump.

One local builder has warned that house demolitions within the city of Vancouver alone could increase by 35 per cent over 10 years.

In recent years, residents, businesses, institutions, and municipal governments across Metro Vancouver have achieved a combined recycling rate of 65 per cent. In contrast, the recycling rate in 1994 was 35 per cent. The goal is to reach 80 per cent.

Metro Vancouver Regional District

To process garbage, Metro Vancouver uses six recycling and waste centres, the Waste-to-Energy incinerator facility in the Big Bend district of south Burnaby, and the Vancouver Landfill next to Burns Bog in Delta. Combined, these facilities receive about one million tonnes of garbage each year.

It is also worth noting that newly installed heat recovery capabilities at the Burnaby incinerator — which receives about 25 per cent of the region’s waste — will soon be connected to the newly built district energy centre in the River District. This system will provide space and water heating for the rapidly growing high-density neighbourhood by Wesgroup Properties in southeast Vancouver.

The incinerator’s new heat recovery capabilities are in addition to the electricity it produces, enough to power 16,000 homes.

Over the longer term, there will be reduced landfill capacity; the Vancouver Landfill, opened in 1966 and owned and operated by the City of Vancouver, will fully close in 2037, with the property transferred to the City of Delta.

river district wesgroup properties vancouver

January 2025 construction progress on the new district energy centre at River District (East Fraser Lands) in Vancouver, which will be fed by the heat recovery of Metro Vancouver Regional District’s incinerator in Burnaby. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Metro Vancouver Waste-To-Energy Facility in South Burnaby. (Metro Vancouver Regional District)

In addition to the various regular waste disposal and recycling facilities, the regional government has also recently secured significant out-of-region capacity to process excess waste that cannot be managed by existing local facilities and sites.

In February 2023, the regional government approved $150-million worth of contracts to three companies over five years, including the transport and disposal of waste by truck and rail to a 2019-opened landfill in Cache Creek, and across the border to a landfill in eastern Washington state and a landfill in eastern Oregon. In 2016, the long-time landfill in Cache Creek serving Metro Vancouver’s needs closed.

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