Iqaluit city council delays waste management plan

Iqaluit city councillors want to know more about incineration before approving a new solid waste plan for the city. 

The city’s new solid waste management plan has been in the works for over two years and could have been approved last night, but several councillors still had questions. 

Councillors and the community members have been raising incineration as an option over the past year, as a way to divert more waste from the landfill.

The city's department of engineering and sustainability is recommending a different plan.

It says incineration is not cost effective right now, and the city should revisit the idea in five years.

That is not good enough for councillor Kenny Bell.

He says councillors have not received enough information to make an informed decision.

“I'm literally confused,” Bell said. “There is no way I can sit there and happily vote for this and be able to tell the people of Iqaluit why I voted for it.”

Meagan Leach is the city’s director of engineering and sustainability. She’s concerned about project time lines.

The goal is to have the new site working by 2015.

“Delaying the decision on this plan based on the incineration question… would delay the design and engineering work that needs to happen to get our new site up and running,” she told councillors.

In the end, council voted to send the plan back to the engineering committee of the whole for more review.