Spring cleaning, earth healing
Yellowknifers taking responsibility for their trash

Tracy Kovalench
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 27/98) - 'Tis the season for getting rid of junk.

But spring cleaning means more that just garage sales and tossing everything that doesn't sell into a garbage bag.

"People are starting to take an active role in caring for their environment," says Dave Neufeld, foreman of the city's waste management facility.

This is especially important because, "What comes to the North, stays in the North."

Neufeld and the staff at what most people call the dump have worked hard to keep things simple.

They have organized the area surrounding the bailing equipment into various sites. Yellowknifers planning constructive projects are welcome to check out the paint exchange, wood drop-off, and scrap metal areas.

Gardeners can score a two-year-old manure compost and treasure-hunters can comb the salvage section.

Plans are under way for a furniture section and a plate-glass area.

Unlike many similar operations in the South, everything is free. "I even help people load their stuff," says Neufeld.

Dump staff themselves make use of salvaged material such as office furniture, discarded bins and old radio towers.

Those radio towers, for example, serve as good traffic control devices. "People can't drive through them and they are too heavy to steal," Neufeld points out.

Clearly labelled blue bins for recyclable materials sit near the entrance to the dump and at three other sites around the city. Each has separate bins for cardboard, newsprint, colored paper, white paper, glass, aluminum cans and tin (steel) cans.

Recyclables require little preparation. "Food cans need only to be rinsed and the labels don't have to be peeled off," Neufeld says.

Evidence at the dump suggests Yellowknifers are beginning to warm up to the idea of placing items into the recycling bins, but seem to have difficulty choosing the appropriate containers.

"Please stop throwing your caribou carcasses in with the cardboard," asks Neufeld.

When enough of each item is collected, the material is compacted into bails and shipped to recycling companies in Alberta.

Forty thousand aluminum cans or 18 refrigerators are required to make one four-by-three-by-five-foot bail.

"The only exception is glass, which is stored in a separate area of the landfill until a market is created for the product," Neufeld says.

Plastic milk cartons, car batteries, used oil, old appliances, propane tanks and water heaters can also be recycled, as well, but must be delivered directly to the waste management facility.

Shrubbery is also welcome at the dump -- "It acts as a natural deodorizer when bailed," says Neufeld.

Last fall a gate was installed to monitor incoming and outgoing traffic as well as provide directions.

"We give tours to schools and have had visitors all the way from Greenland," he says.

Closed for only three days out of the year, the site is constantly buzzing with activity. "The place never stops growing. You can't leave anything until tomorrow!"

But the dump's services are only part of the city's waste-reduction strategy. Reduction at the source -- at home -- and reuse of as many items as possible are still necessary.

Neufeld and the crew at the waste management site have just one more request: "If you are going to make the effort to recycle, finish the job. Prior material separation saves the facility valuable time and energy."

For more information, June's copy of The Recycling Times published by the city department of public works is available at City Hall.