Yellowknife (Dec 17/03) - The home-grown tradition of landfill scavenging will continue, but not in its current form.

Citing liability, safety and health concerns, the public works department at City Hall told about 30 members of the public that changes at the dump are imminent.

"Residents are salvaging while heavy equipment is working," Katherine Silcock, environmental coordinator said.

Other concerns include flying debris, interference with operations and even the potential for someone to be buried under piled garbage.

The department sought input from the public about how best to alleviate their concerns while allowing the public to scavenge.

Resident Ralph Hunt favoured the idea of either closing on Mondays and Fridays, except from 4 until 6 p.m., or creating a three-cell system, where garbage is placed in a three separate locations. One area will be dedicated to unrecyclable garbage, another for recyclables, and a another for recyclable garbage that has been picked over and is ready for return to the scrap heap.

"But who decides what's garbage and what's salvage," he questioned.

Another resident, Tracy Oldfield, said the information session was a good idea.

"They did a lot of homework and they're looking for public input and I hope the public follows through and gives it," Oldfield said.

"But I strongly believe they just need more manpower out there to keep things organized," she said of the landfill situation.

Silcock said the three-cell system seems like a good idea.

"There would still be access to the woodpile and the appliances and the recycling area.

"But we would create an area where people would put only salvageable items.

Dennis Kefalas, manager of public works, said the current landfill is at the end of its life and a new landfill site -- at the quarries adjacent to the current site -- will soon be in operation. Kefalas said the new landfill will likely "become a real sanitary landfill similar to what you see throughout the rest of the country," Kefalas said, noting that it would be contained by a plastic barrier.

And with the implementation of a three-cell system, he said salvaging could proceed as always, just in a different form.

Silcock said the idea of the public information session was to not only seek input from the public, but also to provide information about the city's recycling efforts.