Iqaluit gets funds to build new landfill

Aim is to have new landfill operational by Oct. 2020

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

A fire at Iqaluit's overloaded landfill was doused by firefighters after several hours last month. The City of Iqaluit is celebrating a funding agreement with the federal government, announced late last week, that will pay for construction of a new landfill. (FILE PHOTO)


A fire at Iqaluit’s overloaded landfill was doused by firefighters after several hours last month. The City of Iqaluit is celebrating a funding agreement with the federal government, announced late last week, that will pay for construction of a new landfill. (FILE PHOTO)

The City of Iqaluit can get to work constructing a new landfill with the help of new federal funding announced last week.

Ottawa announced $26.2 million in funding for a new solid waste management facility in Nunavut’s capital, the federal and municipal governments said in a joint press release July 20.

That money stems from an agreement between the federal and territorial government. Combined with a municipal investment of $8.7 million, the funds will allow the city to replace its now largely defunct landfill, which is well beyond its intended capacity.

Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern said she is glad the city can move on a new waste management system it “so desperately needs.”

“I know the community of Iqaluit will be tremendously relieved to see action being taken to protect our wildlife and environment,” Redfern said in the July 20 release.

“This is a great step forward in Iqaluit’s development as the capital of Nunavut and as a Canadian Arctic city.”

Redfern wrote on Twitter that the “goal is to have current dump closed and capped with new landfill operational by October 2020.”

The project will upgrade the city’s current waste management abilities, by constructing a new recycling and eco-centre and facilities for composting.

The funding will also be used to decommission the existing landfill site and construct a road to the new site.

The city landfill caught fire most recently in June. That fire was considerably smaller than a large fire, which some residents dubbed the “dumpcano,” that blazed through the summer of 2014 and cost the city more than $3 million to put out.

City officials have since been working on a design for the new landfill site, which will be located about 8.5 kilometres northwest of the community.

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