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IQALUIT
Compost piles in local sheds, garages and under sinks are full to overflowing these days, leaving green-minded Iqaluit residents with one question: Where's Jim?

Jim Little, lead organizer of the volunteer-run composting program in Iqaluit says his collection truck - an 1989 GMC one-tonne flatbed or "jalopy," as he calls it, and "probably the oldest truck in town" - awaits a new slave cylinder from down south. Until the part arrives, composting in Iqaluit has ground to a halt.

But Little suggests the better question is why the municipality has not adopted or taken over the program.

"We're on our own," said Little, who has been running the program largely out-of-pocket since 2004.

A membership fee of $25 per year does not quite cover gas money and collecting compost from 100-or-so homes occupies Little's every other Saturday. What's more, he said, the program has proved itself to be a valuable waste management tool, beautification tactic and point of civic pride in the community.

"There are so many benefits to (composting). I've tried to pass that on to the powers that be," he said. "I get so upset with bureaucracy; it just blows me away."

If compost is to be widely distributed or sold, it must meet certain criteria to be designated as 'Class-A.' It must reach an internal core temperature of 55 C for at least two weeks to kill pathogens like salmonella and E. coli, which are bound to arise from manure, diapers and egg shells.

"It is illegal to sell compost unless it has met that standard - period," said Little.

Currently, the program uses the simplest, low-tech method called windrow composting. One of the things Little says he managed to prove was that Class-A compost was possible in the Arctic, much to the surprise of southerners.

"Nobody here thought that was possible," he said. "Our ambient temperature is below zero for most of the year. We're sitting on permafrost.

"We've proved that we can."

The process of decomposing carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, if done properly, self-cleanses by generating enough heat within itself.

"You don't need a lot of fancy equipment," said Little, who added he put together an "exceptional" GN funding application for infrastructure in Iqaluit such as a cement pad and much-needed loader, after which it would become a self-supporting municipal compost program. So far the only government funding the program has received was in 2005 when the program got a small boost from Environment Canada to requisition plastic bins.

"Our volumes have increased considerably," said Little, who expects his clients to increase to 200 families from 100, and provide compost for the greenhouse and local landscapers. "We did it all by hand. Now we need certain infrastructure ... There's a huge demand for the compost and it's only going to grow over time."

Little was invited to the Nunavut Food Security Symposium, which begins Jan. 21, to speak about the way Northerners put their faith in southern consultants to solve Northern problems, he said.

Mayor John Graham said he hadn't had the opportunity yet to speak with Little about a municipally-run compost program since being elected, but said he was looking forward getting the scoop on compost.

"(Little) is a wealth of knowledge on that whole program," said Graham. "It's one of things I added to my list after getting elected - I have to sit down with this guy and learn all the intricacies of what it all means."

Little said he hopes to see Graham at the food symposium this week.

In the meantime, Little hopes the program doesn't go by the wayside. He is awaiting the arrival of another truck, an old military vehicle, coming by sea-lift.

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