Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 3, 2007

IQALUIT - Iqaluit city council has given the Bill Mackenzie Humanitarian Society a conditional green light to proceed with the first phase of its composting project.

Jim Little and Jackie Bourgeois stand near the Bill Mackenzie Humanitarian Society's compost pile at the Iqaluit landfill site in 2006. City council agreed last Tuesday to lease the group a new lot for its expanding project. - NNSL file photo

The group must now hustle to prepare a new lot adjacent to the city dump and move its existing pile of organic waste from the landfill by Nov. 30.

"It's not an insufferable obstacle, but it is going to be difficult for a volunteer organization to get the money, to get all the material we need, the equipment we need, to meet that November deadline. But we know it's a do-or-die situation," said group member Thomas Druyan.

With some reluctance, council agreed Aug. 28 to lease the group a 2,214- square-metre lot for five years at $1 a year. The lot will house the compost pile for the first four years, and could expand to include a permanent composting facility in the fifth year.

Council had asked the group to remove its expanding pile of compost, which began as a pilot project in 2004, from the dump last year.

A previous proposal from the Bill Mackenzie Humanitarian Society was turned down due to "miscommunications," according to planning and lands director Michele Bertol.

Now the society must remove all its materials and equipment from the dump by the end of November, or the city will dispose of it.

The volunteer group must also meet a stringent list of conditions and safety measures, and the lot itself must be prepared with a gravel bed, impermeable ground cover and fencing.

"If not I'd expect to see a whole bunch of new faces the next time the (society) want to get something done," Coun. Glenn Williams told the group on Tuesday.

Druyan estimated it will cost about $10,000 to complete the move.

Households participating in the project are provided with a small kitchen container and a larger outside bin in which to collect their food waste, which is picked up every two weeks by Jim Little, who is also a city councillor, and his volunteers.

Little, the founder of the group, did not attend Tuesday's meeting.

Member Siu-Ling Han, who has been composting since 2004, estimates she diverts about 40 per cent of her waste that way.

"It's really, really easy and actually makes the garbage thing a lot easier," she said.

The waste is broken down over time into a nutrient-rich soil, which has been used in flower boxes and gardens around town.