Iqaluit council pushes for waste management plan

Iqaluit will build its new waste disposal facility at an area 8.5 kilometres northwest of the city centre called the Northwest site, as shown in this file image from 2011. The Trail, North 40 and West 40 site options were too close to the airport to be considered further, according the the city’s department of engineering. (FILE IMAGE)

In a city with few options to dispose of waste, the obvious solution is to reduce and re-use.

The city of Iqaluit’s engineering department is moving ahead to do just that.

Meagan Leach, director of engineering and sustainability for the city, presented her department’s new waste management plan to city council on June 5. The department will do the same for Iqaluit residents, starting with a newsletter this this month, and a public meeting in July.

The plan, which has been in the works for at least two years, calls for a new waste disposal facility in an area 8.5 kilometres northwest of the city centre called, aptly enough, the Northwest site.

The facility will cut down on waste that ends up in the landfill by including separate sections for composting, household hazardous waste, a bulk recycling program for scrap metal, appliances and large items, a section for end-of-life vehicles, and a salvage centre for used goods, such as furniture, Leach said.

“The newsletter outlines these options,” including details on how much waste is kept out of the landfill, she said.

The engineering director reviewed a draft of the newsletter at the June 5 Engineering and Public Works Committee of the Whole meeting.

The project, expected to cost $13 million to $19 million, will replace the aging West 40 landfill site south of the city, which is nearing capacity.

Urgency to get the project moving was evident at the council meeting, as city councillors puzzled over their holiday schedules in July to see if they could be present for a key council meeting on the item as well as a public consultation meeting that month.

“We are trying to move forward as quickly as possible,” Leach said after the meeting. “So once the program and the site are approved by council, we’ll be moving forward to get that new site up and running.”

Composting and incineration of dry waste are particularly good at reducing trash headed into the landfill, as Leach shows in some figures presented in the upcoming newsletter for residents.

The waste management plan calls for windrow composting, which involves piling waste in long rows. This requires just a fraction of the energy needed for incineration.

Her department’s plan shows that it can keep 44 per cent of waste out of the proposed dump, which would extend the life of the landfill by about 14 years, she said.

Once the program is approved by council, the department will need one year to complete the engineering design for the project, and another season for construction, she said.

“So we’re looking at two years before we get to the new site.”