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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City councillor Paul Falvo is tired and frustrated with the time it is taking to erect signs on the recycling bins at the city dump.

Dave Kellett, a member of the city's Solid Waste Management Advisory Committee, shows how some of the blue bins at the have been lacking proper signage of late. Kellett, as well as members on the committee, are urging the city to make improvements to signs so that it is easier for people to know where to dump recyclables and waste. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo

He says it has been at least three weeks since signs were taken down and says he does not know why city staff have taken them down.

"It has been about three weeks where we have been talking about those blue bins specifically," Falvo said. "There has been ongoing signage problems for a long time in general, but (in other areas of the landfill) it is getting better."

When Yellowknifer checked out the bins at the dump last week, enough different recyclables - plastics, papers and cans - were in each bin that it was unclear where they should actually be put.

With a lack of proper signage in the landfill, both Falvo and advisory committee member Dave Kellett say users will become confused as to where to throw out their recyclable material.

"It could be that it is difficult knowing where to put things for some people," Falvo said. "That is something we keep talking about and we are always pestering city staff about at the meetings."

During the Nov. 21 Municipal Services Committee meeting, Falvo asked city administration when signs will be returned to the blue bins.

Dennis Kefalas, director of public works, said the city is waiting for its replacement signs to come back from its supplier. He said the city is working with Ecology North to make improvements to sign designs "in terms of quality and how it is presented."

Both Falvo and Kellett contend, however, the city should have put temporary signs up in the meantime so people know where to put their recyclables.

In November 2010, as council was trying to get salvage cells up and running, administration similarly noted they were waiting for proper signage to be completed by the supplier.

It took more than a year for the project to be completed.

Both Falvo and Kellett say proper signage and organization in the landfill is important when it comes to giving people direction when dumping waste.

"I think people really want to do the right thing, but they need to know what the right thing is," Kellett said. "So if there is a bin that doesn't say 'tin cans' then how do you know if your waste is supposed to go in there?"

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