The greening of Iqaluit

DENISE RIDEOUT

IQALUIT — On the verge of becoming Nunavut’s first city, Iqaluit is finally doing what almost every other city in Canada is doing: recycling.

On March 13, Iqaluit Mayor John Matthews launched a paper-recycling program for the town.

“It’s an exciting time for us. We will have less garbage and we’ll be able to recycle more,” Matthews said.

The program is a partnership between municipal, territorial and federal agencies.

Environment Canada has donated 300 green boxes, which will be distributed to businesses and government offices throughout Iqaluit.

Clients of the Isumaqsunngittut young offenders centre will drive around and collect the green boxes every Tuesday and Friday morning.

The paper will be dropped off at the Nunavut Public Works department where it will be bailed. First Air will then fly the cargo to Ottawa and a local company will recycle the paper.

This is the second time a recycling program has been tried in Iqaluit. The Town wasn’t involved in the first program, which ran for a few months and then slowly fi led.

Matthews said he thinks this program will be more successful. He said the municipality and the other groups involved have covered all the groundwork to ensure the program survives.

Too much garbage

Garbage has always been a thorn in the Town’s side.

The current dump is almost full to capacity. The Town regularly burns garbage to cut down on the heap that has piled up.

In January, when the Nunavut Water Board granted Iqaluit a water licence, it criticized the Town for not having a recycling program in place.

“We know from the evidence that there are significant quantities of waste going into the landfill without being subjected to a proper recycling program or environmental sorting program,” the water board said in its report.

The Nunavut Water Board also stipulated that Iqaluit cut down on the opening burning of garbage.

By June 1, the Town will only be permitted to burn paper, untreated wood, cardboard and food waste. It is banned from burning plastics.

The mayor said that in order to meet those requirements, the Town is also launching a garbage-separation program.

Residents will be required to separate plastics from all other household garbage. Matthews said the Town plans to distribute special garbage bags to Iqalungmiut.

“Residents will be required to put burnable material into one colored bag and non-burnable materials in a different colored bag,” Matthews explained.

Matthew Hough, director of public works and engineering, said the burnable garbage will go to the town’s dump. He said they’re still looking for a site to dump plastic materials.

“We’re tackling this in a very aggressive manner,” Hough said.

The biggest challenge for the Town right now is getting the public’s support.

“It will be a task to inform and educate residents about the disposal of garbage,” Matthews said.

The Town is gearing up for an information campaign on paper recycling and garbage separation.

“We will get the message out even if we have to go door to door,” Matthews said.