Metro Vancouver's trash crunch just got some relief.

The B.C. environment ministry has approved a request to extend the use of the Cache Creek regional landfill, slated to close by the middle of next year, until the end of 2012.

That reduces the pressure to make a fast decision on what the region will do with 600,000 tonnes of garbage.

Metro had been planning to export the waste to the U.S. while it pursued options to build more waste-to-energy plants in the region.

But Victoria last week vowed to outlaw garbage exports.

The extension now granted at Cache Creek gives operators Wastech Services Ltd. another seven hectares for dumping.

That provides at least another 18 months capacity, environment minister Barry Penner said.

"It's helpful," said Surrey Coun. Marvin Hunt, chair of Metro's waste management committee.

But he said the extension still leaves the region short of time, noting Metro had figured it needed to export waste for five to seven years to provide time to study waste-handling technologies, consult the public and build new facilities.

"Three years is only about enough time to get through the consultations process and figure out what we're doing," Hunt said.

The Cache Creek landfill takes about one third of the waste Metro Vancouver generates, as well as garbage from the City of Abbotsford and the Powell River and Thompson Nicola regional districts.

A much larger expansion of the Cache Creek landfill is also under consideration that would add 42 hectares and extend capacity by 17 to 25 years.

In granting the short-term extension, Penner noted an independent study of the Cache Creek landfill released in June that found no significant environmental impacts attributed to the existing operation.