Iqaluit ponders six landfill choices

Count them: six sites, that’s what a consulting firm hired by the City of Iqaluit has already identified for its future landfill site.

Now consultants are proposing a choice of two ways to get rid of the waste that’s sure to pile up in any new city landfill.

Iqaluit’s current landfill, started in 1994, was originally intended to last five years.

But, by open-air burns (a practice which halted in 2002) and a landfill enlargement in 2001, the city was able to keep the landfill going, Megan Leach, the city’s director of engineering and sustainability, said Nov. 19 to a gathering of people with a keen interest in solid waste — members of the Northern Territories Water and Waste Association, who met this past weekend in Iqaluit.

In December, 2011, Iqaluit gave a $260,000 contract to Trow Associates, now known as EXP Services Inc., to come up with a plan, which Leach presented at the waste-water conference, called “Our water, our land, our life.”

The consultants suggested six sites for the landfills, which were revealed this summer to city council.

Now the consultants have narrowed down the choices for waste disposal to two options: waste-to-energy or a new landfill.

Waste-to-energy requires either burning waste at high temperatures or turning it into gas.

But either way, you still need a landfill, John Smith, a consultant with EXP Services, said at the conference.

Building a new, more traditional landfill site would cost less. As another plus, with a program of waste diversion and recycling, this kind of landfill could even be sustainable over the long term.

A recent study on landfills around the territory said such a modified landfill is “considered the most financially-feasible approach that provides environmental protection and safe and efficient waste management operations” for Nunavut communities.

Iqaluit now plans to re-examine what type of recycling programs would be a good fit for the city — after dumping a short-lived municipal recycling program several years ago.

Landfill workers now separate different types of waste, such as appliances, tires, and electronic goods.

There’s also a scrap metal program in place to keep as much volume out of the landfill as possible.

Once Iqaluit’s councillors decide where to put the new landfill and what kind of waste management plan will work, the city plans to work to decommission the current landfill.

For detailed information what that landfill options Iqaluit is now looking at, go to http://www.iqaluitwasteproject.com.

Here’s a map that shows the six sites now under consideration for Iqaluit’s new landfill. (FILE IMAGE)