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Dump expansion to begin
City's recycling efforts extended current landfill's lifespan by four years: mayor

Nicole Veerman
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, June 29, 2011

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknife landfill will begin closure of its first cell and expansion of a new one this summer, many years after it was expected to begin.

NNSL photo/graphic

Mayor Gord Van Tighem toured the area that will soon be a second generation landfill cell at the Solid Waste Facility, Friday. The current landfill is reaching the end of its lifespan, so the city hopes to have the new cell open by the fall. - Nicole Veerman/NNSL photo

"When I first came into office, they said there was seven years left," said Mayor Gord Van Tighem, who's been in office for 11 years. "That seven years took a long time."

He said the extra four years of use can be attributed to the city's efforts to reduce the amount of waste entering the dump through recycling programs, tipping fees and composting.

Doug Ritchie, program director for Ecology North and member of the city's Solid Waste Advisory Committee, said he thinks the city and its residents have done well.

"I think it does really speak to how Yellowknifers have stepped up to the plate and increased their recycling and tried to divert the beverage containers and the like away from the landfill," he said.

The city has encouraged recycling by implementing tipping fees at the landfill gate and by installing six recycling bins around town that provide residents with an appropriate place to discard newspapers, corrugated cardboard, boxboard, plastics, white paper, tin cans and glass, said Van Tighem.

In 2005, Yellowknife also began a beverage container recycling program, which diverts aluminum cans, plastic and glass bottles, milk jugs and Tetra Paks from the waste stream.

And in 2010, a composting pilot program was launched at the landfill, providing compost pickup once a week to about 20 businesses around town.

"I think they are doing a number of positive things," said Ritchie. "Certainly, when I first arrived on the scene, this is 15 years ago, it was very much the Wild West out there (at the landfill) and I think, little by little, they have essentially brought the landfill kicking and screaming into the 21st century."

And it's only going to get more modern with the expansion, he said.

The new cell is "designed as a second generation landfill, which includes liners and a leachate collection system to contain any liquids generated by the cell," according to a recent memorandum to city council.

A contract was awarded in the amount of about $205,000 to A&A Technical to supply the liner, while another contract for about $2.2 million was awarded to NWT Construction to install it.

Van Tighem said the second generation landfill, which will be located in a rock quarry adjacent to the current cell, ensures groundwater isn't contaminated by runoff from the landfill.

Although one might question where that water could go, considering the ground in the area is mostly granite, Van Tighem said the ice dam in Baker Creek that caused runoff from a tailings pond to end up in Yellowknife Bay last month is a good example of why they need to take all of the necessary precautions.

"Like they found at Giant with the ice dam, (water) will go where it wants to go. So you put the barrier in."

The city hopes to have the new cell operating by the fall. Van Tighem said part of that process includes closing the old cell, which he calls "the cost of moving."

The cell closure is the first of its kind in the NWT, so Yellowknife's Solid Waste Facility is establishing the standard for all of the landfills in the territory, he said.

To close the cell, a layer of soil, crushed glass or old asphalt will be spread on top of the garbage and then grass seeds will be spread on top of that.

With one cell closing and another opening, Ritchie said this is the perfect opportunity for the city to implement more waste reduction programs.

One would be reducing the weekly curbside garbage bag limit to two from three, which was discussed by the Municipal Services Committee in May. In general, councillors were in support of the idea, but felt it should be accompanied by a curbside blue box recycling program.

Ritchie also pointed to other plans being discussed by the city, such as banning cardboard from the landfill and expanding the composting program so it's available to the rest of the city.

He said it's important that the city continue to cut down on its waste, with the ultimate goal of zero waste going into the landfill.

"I think it's a matter of not resting on our laurels and continuing," he said. "I don't think it's an unrealistic goal to say, 'No, we shouldn't be burying anything.'"

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