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Innovation in garbage management Bacteria may be the key element of a simple solution to problems at Pangnirtung's dump
Casey Lessard Northern News Services Published Monday, April 9, 2012
In late March, representatives including senior administrative officer Ron Mongeau and the hamlet's consultants, travelled to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where they learned about technology that may do the job. "We're struggling with the tools we need to properly manage our dump," Mongeau said. "It's a very serious and ongoing issue in the Arctic. You have to address your wet garbage and your dry garbage." The option presented in Salt Lake City uses bacteria starved of oxygen to decompose the wet garbage, a process that produces methane fuel. "One of the possibilities would be to separate our garbage in Pang, use this digester technology to treat our wet garbage - including food waste and potentially waste from the sewage treatment plant and fish processing plant - and then use the methane we generate from that process to perhaps power a smaller-scaled incinerator system that would burn our dry garbage," he said. The concept is not new, and the University of Utah's researchers are considered the experts on the issue, he said. "It's quite robust, solid technology that works well - very predictable, very simple, not a lot of moving parts. It's basically: starve it from oxygen, throw the right bacteria in there and let it get to work." That said, anaerobic digestion is not the only option on the table, as thermal incineration is the other option being considered. Garbage is not a new problem in the North. During a fall 2011 tour of the capitol, Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern pointed to the dangerous remnants of metal garbage sticking out from the now-buried dump left by American forces. A glance at the fenced-in modern dump nearby proves few things that are brought North ever leave. "No community in Nunavut has adequate tools to deal with dumps," Mongeau said. "The only tool I have as a manager is I get my heavy equipment out there, compact it and burn it. When you start burning a public dump, you cannot believe what carcinogens and noxious substances are released - and of course, as soon as you start to burn, the winds shift and start to blow this stuff right over town." The practice of burning is "common and widespread" throughout Nunavut due to permafrost, lack of adequate cover material and remote locations, the Department of Environment stated in the 2010 Environmental Guideline for the Burning and Incineration of Solid Waste. "We're not prepared to continue in that fashion," Mongeau said in November. "Right now we have a commitment from the Government of Nunavut, there's $1.5 million identified and we're going to be looking at a permanent solution implemented and in place by next summer." At the time, he hoped the solution would be running within one year. Speaking last week, Mongeau said he hopes council will act sooner rather than later to solve the ongoing problem. "This thing has slid and slid and slid, and every time it slides, you're looking at another year, so we want to keep this process moving forward as much as we can," he said. Consultants will be putting together a report, and he hopes hamlet council will make a decision before summer. "This is something that is very important to the community, so we just want to keep this process moving forward."
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