Swift Current city council passed a motion Monday evening to increase some of their solid waste rates.

As of January 1, 2018, the City's rates for asbestos disposal is set to increase by $25 per tonne to $125 - on the heels of a second asbestos pit being constructed at the west landfill site in October of this year.

The City's general manager of infrastructure and operations, Mitch Minken said through all the demolition activity around Swift Current, the first pit has almost reached max capacity after four years of operation.

"Of course new pit and new rates associated with it so we can recover the cost of building it, maintaining, and eventually decommissioning it," he said.

Minken also added that the newest asbestos pit build is bigger than the original one that was constructed in 2013.

"It's hard to say when you build them how long they're going to last," he added. "You don't want to make them oversized either. You build it for what you expect and if it's (full) in four or five years from now, we will dig another one, we have the space on the site."

The second rate increase being applied is on regular waste per tonne, rising $10 to $80, which according to Minken will help their recovery costs.

"With the changes to regulations there are a number of things we have to do," he said. "We need to make improvements to the slope grading, we have to make improvements to the drainage system and control our leachate, so these are all improvements that we have to make that are costing us more money these days."

A flat fee of $10 for a small load will stay the same, along with the rate for clean wood disposal at $60 per tonne.