Recycling program may be scrapped

Under budget pressures, Iqaluit city council is weighing whether to scrap the eastern Arctic’s only door-to-door recycling program.

Referring to the estimated $235,000 annual cost of recycling in Iqaluit, the chief administrative officer, Ian Fremantle, lobbied council to cut the program immediately at their last meeting on May 11.

“I don’t have the money to continue with recycling,” Fremantle said. “Some other service is going to have to be reduced to continue this.”

Mark Hall, the public works director, expects cutting the recycling program will only increase garbage levels by one per cent.

Councillors put off the decision, saying they wanted to speak with the Iqaluit Recycling Society, a group of volunteers that promote the program, before making their decision at their next meeting on May 25.