City makes deal to have derelict vehicles, appliances, shipped south

Officials at Iqaluit city hall hope a Quebec company is the solution to the city's lingering problem with derelict vehicles, appliances and other scrap metal.

The city signed a memorandum of understanding last week with Recyclage Levis, based near Quebec City, that would see the company bring a metal crusher up on the first sealift.

John Hussey, the city's chief administrative officer, said the company will spend the summer crushing scrap metal and haul it back south in empty seacans.

"[Recylage Levis] is making all the arrangements," Hussey said.

The city will pay the cost of shipping the equipment to the capital, though Hussey said there's no firm price tag yet. But he added the city is hoping the Nunavut government's Department of the Environment will pitch in to cover the cost.

In the meantime, the city's public works department is scouting the West 40 for a place to run the operation.

Hussey said the city has some expired vehicles in some of its garages that will be crushed and hauled away, and there are several old vehicles rusting away in the dump.

Bylaw officers are contacting residents who have old vehicles or scrap metal on their property to make arrangements to have the stuff disposed of. Hussey said the city will help move vehicles from residential properties.

Businesses will have to get old vehicles to the site on their own, but Hussey said he's already taken calls from several business owners who are eager to get rid of old cars and trucks.

Recyclage Levis will accept cars, trucks, snowmobiles, "white metal" like appliances, and empty oil drums.

The city banned the dumping of vehicles since 2006, but since then there's been no legal way to dispose of them.

Scrap metal prices have soared in recent years, thanks to booming demand for base metals in China. Metals like copper have become so valuable that thieves often strip construction sites of pipes and wire for sale on the black market. The problem is so bad in some places that at least two U.S. – Missouri and Oklahoma – are drafting laws to crack down on metal thieves.