Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Oct 05/01) - Barbara Armstrong is pleased by the response to a household hazardous waste collection that was held Saturday behind the fire hall.

"By the end of Saturday, there was no more room in the bottom of that tractor trailer," Armstrong, recycling co-ordinator for the Inuvik Recycling Society, said.

"There was stuff everywhere, and sorting it out we filled two complete bins."

Among the items collected were batteries, an acetylene tank, lots of oil, paint and aerosol.

The Inuvik Recycling Society received money from Shell Canada to help advertise for the event. Helping the society with the collection were IMG Services Ltd. and WasteCo.

The event marked the debut of a partnership reached between IMG Services and WasteCo, a company based in Alberta. The firms are partnering now but will eventually set up a separate company.

Representative Tim Sturko explained WasteCo offers a range of waste management and environmental services, such as supplying environmental products, spill management and regular waste management.

"Our clientele is a lot of the industrial and oilfield companies that are preparing to do work in town," Sturko said.

"A lot of our materials will actually be furthered on to our facilities. We operate right across western Canada."

Armstrong recently visited WasteCo's hazardous waste plant in Swan Hills, Alberta, and said she was impressed.

Armstrong also took in three conferences. One was put on by NorthernCare, a recycling waste management, not for profit organization linking together municipalities in northern Alberta.

"It was helpful to me because they're generally very, very tiny communities they're dealing with," Armstrong said.

She gave a talk there, as well as at the Alberta Recycling Council conference in Edmonton.

She also took part in an conference dealing with the Northern Contaminants Program.

"I learned there about what's happening in the North with our long range and short range contaminant issues."

Accompanying Armstrong was Albert Bernhardt, owner of A.B. Salvage, which runs the town dump.