The contract went to Goldsmith Civil Engineering, who will be responsible for building the new area for rubbish at the City of Ballarat-managed facility (see right).

Cr Samantha McIntosh asked about why the costs for constructing the landfill were significantly more than the current cell, known as Cell I.

Director of infrastructure and environment Bridget Wetherall said the previous cell cost $2.28m when it was approved in 2018 and was designed to have enough airspace for two years.

"EPA has given approval to build for five years of airspace over two different stages," she responded. "That's the reason for the disparity you have rightly picked up."

IN OTHER NEWS

Ms Wetherall also said there had been seven separate bids for the tender, which had ranged up to almost $10 million.

"We are confident we have value for money," she said.

There is also a significant contingency built in to the cost, with 30 per cent set aside in case of unexpected challenges - described as "rock volumes or slimes location" in the officer report.

Cr Peter Eddy said the landfill was a "regional responsibility" and commended Ms Wetherall for the clarity of the work.

"We need to work hard to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill," he said.

Cr Belinda Coates elaborated on the same note, describing waste as "the biggest cost we have... it's an enormous environmental issue."

"We're putting rubbish into the ground that's going to sit there for thousands of years, we don't know how long - it really highlights why we have to push hard on the circular economy," she said.

Council officers estimate that the current cell will run out of space by October 2021.

It has filled up faster than expected, partially due to the recycling crisis last year.

The annual report was also signed off after some discussion. One of the speakers to it was Cr Ben Taylor, who was the mayor for the majority of the time covered by the report. He described it as "a pretty frantic and big year."

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