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RANKIN INLET
Although what was planned to be Rankin Inlet's new landfill no longer meets national and territorial regulations, the community and GN don't want to let the site go to waste.

The current landfill on the edge of Rankin Inlet isn't yet close to capacity, and its replacement is now outdated and may be used for other purposes. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

"I think it makes sense at this point in time to get past this issue and look at a positive use for the site," said hamlet councillor Shawn Maley, adding the area is being proposed as a metals and non-organic dump area.

The new landfill was finished by 2005, but it's basically sat there untouched since, according to Darren Flynn, assistant deputy minister for the Department of Community and Government Services.

The new, 120,444-square-metre landfill was not put to use right away because the existing 74,305-square-metre site still had - and has - plenty of life to it, and there were concerns about its location and proximity to the hamlet, Flynn said.

While it sat waiting, regulations at both the federal and territorial levels have changed so that new landfills must have liners and segregated cells for waste, upgrades which Flynn said would prove too expensive to be worthwhile at this point.

Flynn did not have information as to the cost of the new landfill on hand, but said "it was probably, in terms of today's dollars, a bargain."

Another issue with the new landfill is it doesn't have a water licence, which would take close to a year to get in the best-case scenario.

Flynn's department recently assessed all 25 dump sites in Nunavut, and creating new landfill infrastructure is an issue the GN faces, bearing a price tag of $500 million. With a cost such as that, it will take time to address every landfill in the territory.

"The existing landfill (in Rankin) still has lots of capacity. It's currently the management of that landfill that causes some problems," Flynn said. "There is no segregation here, right now, and there really isn't any way to burn off without causing a lot of problems for the community, such as smoke blowing back into the community."

He said the hamlet is acting on the issues at the existing landfill, which sits at the edge of the community, and is hoping to put a gate on the site and hire staff to manage the dump and keep it organized.

Maley said the project is being initiated this season.

"We're hoping by the end of the summer that it will all be in place," Maley said.

Right now, the site sits on the road to Diane River as "a nice, patterned, fenced outline for what could be a waste site," said Flynn.

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