Yellowknife (Apr 23/04) - A recommendation to shorten the hours the public can get to the dump won't go before city council Monday night, but the change will likely come in the not too distant future, says some city councillors.

Council was presented with a pair of recommendations at a committee meeting, Monday afternoon: One, to close the landfill to the public on Mondays and Fridays, except for between 4-6 p.m. The other called for the implementation of a three-cell salvaging system.

Coun. David McCann said there was general support for the shortened hours, but not as much for the three-cell system. As a result, council reserved judgement on the recommendations.

"My initial reaction was negative (to shortened hours)," said McCann.

"But the more I listened the more I realized we have a problem there. We have our contractors saying there's a real danger. There's been a number of close misses."

John Oldfield, owner of Kavanaugh Brothers waste removal, said they have almost buried people in refuse at the dump on several occasions.

"We have so many problems backing in with so many people up there scavenging," said Oldfield.

"I had two people come right up to the back of the (garbage) truck to see what was going to slide out of it, and of course the load slid out rather fast. They were scrambling to get out of the way. One guy tripped and got covered in a little bit of the stuff."

Bailing facility subforeman, Bruce Underhay, said they need Mondays and Fridays free of scavengers because, by Friday morning or Sunday afternoon, they're practically up to their eyeballs in fresh garbage.

800 vehicles

"Last weekend, we had 800 vehicles in here," said Underhay, Wednesday morning.

"Right now, on Monday mornings there's just too much traffic to push (garbage). We end up having to leave it."

Closing on Fridays will allow them to organize refuse piling up over the course of the week, while scavenger-free Mondays will help them catch up on the weekend load, said Underhay.

The city estimates that it will save $27,000 closing the dump for two days because there will be fewer work delays.

Nonetheless, not all councillors were supportive of the recommendations.

Coun. Doug Witty said while he is not in favour of the status quo, he doesn't want to see commercial operators restricted from the dump because of the closure.

He also thinks the proposed three-cell system can be done more cheaply. City administration predicts that it will cost $90,000 to construct a new recycling area.

Three-cell system

In the three-cell system, refuse is divided between unrecyclable garbage, recyclables, and garbage already been picked over by scavengers.

Yellowknifer columnist and salvaging proponent Walt Humphries doesn't like the reduced hours or three-cell system.

"There's lots of people taking stuff out on Fridays," said Humphries. "One day I can understand, but two days you're pushing it.

"They're making it overly complicated. What's going to happen is people are going to be in one cell, and they're going to walk over to see what's in the cell.

The way we have it now with the single cell works when you just close it off when you're plowing."