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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
He was at the right place at the right time. Ben Nind's trip to the Yellowknife Solid Waste Facility on Wednesday morning was a particularly successful one.

Ben Nind was at the Yellowknife Solid Waste Facility as the Department of National Defence dropped off two dining room sets, some appliances and other household items on Wednesday. - Lyndsay Herman/NNSL photo

While at the salvage area, the Department of National Defence was dropping off a cube van full of household items and furniture.

"There were two dining room sets, two nice leather benches," said Nind as he recalled the items two other dump salvagers took home. He gestured toward his finds laid out on a tarp in his front yard.

"Here's your tax dollars at work," he said.

Nind's haul included two end tables, a cutlery set, a knife block with knives, a cutting board, an electric kettle, an iron, a vacuum cleaner, two brooms, and at least two glass sets. Three plastic laundry baskets in the mix still had Rubbermaid stickers on the bottom.

Lt. Paul Pendergast, Joint Task Force North public affairs officer, said the items came from furnished apartments managed by Public Works and Government Services Canada on behalf of the Department of National Defence. The apartments are kept for temporary employees, or those waiting to move into permanent residences in town.

Pendergast said the clean-out was part of a semi-annual inspection.

"The items were damaged and therefore not suitable for continued use," said Pendergast. "They were all damaged in some way. It may not have been obvious unless you took a close look."

Nicks and scratches, evidence of light use, were the only damage to most of the items on the tarpaulin in Nind's front yard and many items, such as glassware, laundry baskets, cutlery and a cutting board, appeared almost new.

Nind said he would have liked to have seen the items donated or taken to a second-hand shop instead of dropped at the dump.

Pendergast said it is a federal policy and not a Department of National Defence policy that prohibits the donation of the items.

"It protects the federal government from favouring one group over another, things like that," he said.

Pendergast said objects which are no longer required but are "still serviceable" are sold through a government auction run through Public Works and Government Services Canada.

"These items were considered damaged and that's why they weren't put aside for auction," said Pendergast. "They were put in the salvage section of the dump so that they would be able to be salvaged by anyone who happened to want them."

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