SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife man pleaded with council to return salvaging at the landfill back to the way it was before the September 2009 dump fire Monday.

Louie Azzolini is fed up with the changes at the Yellowknife landfill and wants salvaging to go back to the way it was before last year's dump fire. - Nicole Veerman/NNSL photo

Louie Azzolini began salvaging with his dad when he was a child and has continued the tradition with his own children who are now eight and 11. He said since the salvaging area reopened in March, there has been less to salvage.

"I've noticed since the placement of three large steel bins just before the salvage area, that fewer people bother salvaging and significantly more salvageable goods are being diverted into the landfill," he said at city hall.

"We are throwing too much salvageable material away and that bothers me because it's just wrong and to be honest, it takes the fun out of scavenging," he said.

City councillor David Wind recognized the flaw in the set up saying a person's natural inclination is to make one stop and dump everything especially if the first option presented to them is a garbage bin.

Coun. Bob Brooks responded to Azzolini's presentation by questioning the status of the three-cell system that was supposed to be operational at the dump shortly after the temporary site was opened in March.

Dennis Kefalas, director of public works for the City of Yellowknife, said the new system that is supposed to create a safer, more organized salvaging site by having people set aside what they believe is salvageable in a separate location from the dumping area, is just waiting on signage.

"I'm looking forward to the arrival of the signs," said Coun. Lydia Bardak. "I would have thought with all the salvaged wood and paint out there, we could have made some signs, but missed opportunity."

Kefalas said he hopes the site will be open with all of the appropriate signage in about a week.

At a Solid Waste Management meeting on Oct. 12, Kefalas said the site was 90 per cent complete, but wouldn't put a date on the project's completion.

In February, he told Yellowknifer the new facility was 70 per cent done and would be open in a few weeks.

In the 2008 budget, the project was budgeted at $150,000, while the 2009 forecast was $138,000, with $12,000 being spent in 2009. The actual cost won't be available until the release of the 2011 budget.

Azzolini said he doesn't want the new three-cell system, which he thinks will result in even more salvageable items in the landfill instead of the salvage site.

"We just want it to go back the way it was. It worked fine."

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