Iqaluit entrepreneurs pitch incinerator proposal to council

Bryan Pearson, left, with Franco Buscemi, Oct. 28, explains to Iqaluit city council his proposal to bring an incinerator to Iqaluit for a fraction of the price set out in the city’s waste management plan. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

April Tucker, left, with fellow Inuksuk High School students Katie Chislett Manning, Matilda Pinksen and Andrew Tucker, answers a question from Iqaluit city council, Oct. 28. The Grade 10 students will adopt a pop-can recycling program at their school through Arctic Co-operatives Ltd. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

The City of Iqaluit’s summer-long dump fire and struggles with waste disposal have spurred two separate groups to present some solutions to city council, Oct. 28.

Bryan Pearson, an entrepreneur who served as mayor of the community in the 1970s and 1980s, proposed to offer the city a British-manufactured incinerator at a cost of $250,000.

“Incineration is a very viable and practical solution for the bloody mess that we saw recently at the dump,” Pearson told council.

The former mayor identified his proposal as coming from Arctic Waste Solutions Inc., a firm he said he will open only if the city is interested in the incinerator.

Iqaluit’s city council included an incinerator in the city’s new solid waste management plan in January, which increased the plan’s budget by about $5 million.

Pearson, who presented his plan with business partner Franco Buscemi, said his offer could bring that added cost down to well within $1 million.

Pearson and Buscemi’s firm would run the incinerator on contract for the city, he said, which would also save the city money.

Councillors were sceptical about their proposal, noting that they had contacted several firms for details on garbage-burning equipment.

“As you probably know I was very vocal in supporting incineration when we were talking about our waste-management plan,” said Coun. Kenny Bell.

“I contacted, like, 50 or 60 different companies, trying to sell me the world. And to this day I still don’t know about incineration. I don’t have the time to sit there and read all the stuff that I do get.”

“I do support incineration,” he said. “I really do think Iqaluit needs it, more now than ever. We are on an island. We’re not going anywhere, and neither is our garbage.”

Bell was quick to add that the city needs engineers or consultants specialized in the equipment to determine how suitable any given piece of equipment would be for the city.

Coun. Terry Dobbin recalled council considered an incinerator from an Ontario firm in January, but had no way of comparing it with other offers.

“Everyone sees dollar signs,” Buscemi answered, noting that few of the companies are likely to have any knowledge of Iqaluit or its Arctic environment.

“All of these agencies knocking at your door are proposing projects with no history. They don’t live here,” he said. “Bryan and I live here, and it’s our personal interest to maintain that.”

Buscemi added that their equipment is proven in the circumpolar communities of northern Europe, and would save the city money in the wake of the costly fire-extinguishment to put out the summer-long dump fire.

Pearson and Buscemi said their incinerator would take on four tonnes of garbage per hour, which is enough to cover the city’s estimated maximum waste output of 25 tonnes per day at the height of the sealift season.

Coun. Romeyn Stevenson, who chaired the meeting because of acting mayor Mary Wilman’s absence, said the city’s engineering department would consider the proposal as it moves forward with plans for Iqaluit’s new waste management plan.

The city’s next waste management plan does not include immediate plans to recycle household materials.

Lacking that, a youth group from Inuksuk High School will take on an opportunity to recycle aluminum through a program run by Arctic Co-operatives Ltd.

Four Grade 10 students at the school told council they will, by January next year, adopt ACL’s program to fill a sealift container with aluminum pop cans in exchange for $1,500.

The container will take on pop cans from all residents. ACL will ship containers full of cans out of Iqaluit during the sealift season, to Montreal. Cans then go to a recycling plant.

“If the cans are a success, we could also get students to recycle paper and cardboard,” student Matilda Pinksen told council. “We hope (the project) will expand and inspire the elementary schools as well, to start their own program.”

Inuksuk High School is the second organization in Iqaluit to adopt the program. The first, Les Petits Nanooks daycare, did so in 2012.

The daycare collects cans in a large box, and a sealift container near the beach in the city centre. The high school will keep its sealift container on the school grounds.