SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Some big changes are coming to the city dump, some of them as early as this summer, according to the city's solid waste facility manager.
"The current site is definitely not user-friendly," said Peter Houweling, assistant superintendent at the solid waste facility, during a solid waste forum held last week.
According to Houweling, the city's plans to reorganize the dump site and make it more efficient and accessible by undertaking a two-phase program over the next few years, with phase one beginning this summer. During phase one, the city plans to centralize the transfer stations and the salvage area at the dump.
This means all non-recyclable waste will be dropped into nine centrally-located bins, separated into six categories, including household garbage, commercial waste, wood, tires, scrap steel, and yard waste. The city will also be continuing its e-waste collection program for items such as TVs and computers.
Efforts to make the dump easier to navigate will include the centralization of the salvaging system, which was previously divided into three separate cells in 2010.
"Now what we are going to be doing, is going from a three-cell system to one cell," said Houweling.
The salvage area will eventually be relocated to the area at the dump where tires are currently discarded.
Houweling is reassuring those who were worried that these changes might limit the availability of and access to salvageable goods at the dump.
"Yes, there is some change in the way we are going to operate our salvage system, but it's not leaving," he said. "This change will help promote waste diversion, which is also a positive."
Concerns were raised at the forum with regards to the costs of modifying the salvaging system back into a one-cell system, just three years after the city paid around $200,000 to have the three-cell system built.
Houweling said "the money that was spent on the infrastructure for the three-cell system is the base for our new transfer station construction," adding that "we're reusing the existing infrastructure, so we don't have to spend that money twice."
Houweling also said that car salvaging will be reintroduced this summer. The program had previously been put on hold due to fears that toxic anti-freeze fluids were creating public safety and environmental hazards. Houweling said that in order to avoid these potential risks, the dump is simply reversing the order in which vehicles are recycled.
"In the past vehicles were salvaged, then processed, then recycled." Now they will be processed prior to salvaging, before they are finally recycled.
Houweling hopes that phase two, which is planned to begin in 2014, and will include "improved signage, the addition of four new transfer bins, a new categorized salvage area, a fence around the site, and improved lighting for the winter months," will only further improve "waste diversion" at the site.
Even though there were still some at the forum who worried whether this plan would improve the dump, the overall atmosphere of the discussions was positive.
"Any time you change things, there will be bumps along the road," said Mayor Mark Heyck at the forum. He added that he was encouraged by how passionate people are when it comes to minimizing waste and recycling salvageable items.
"I was really happy how things went," said resident Matthew Grogono, after the meeting.
"There was virtually a full house, lots of interest, lots of exchange, lots of give and take in the dialogue."
Grogono also commended Houweling on his willingness to listen to the proposals and concerns of the public, pointing out that the city's solid waste management committee has come a long way since it was founded in 1994.
"It's a very difficult problem, it's a global problem - but there is progress here."
