The City of Whitehorse is doing some deep diving into its garbage.

City officials have been conducting an audit of what’s going into its landfill, and the results are thought-provoking.

Ira Webb, the city’s associate manager of waste management, spoke to the Star about the audit last Friday.

He said one of the major items causing some problems and concern at the landfill site is organic waste.

Materials that should be going to the municipal composting facility are instead showing up at the landfill, Webb said.

That’s a problem the city’s website section of waste management sums up quite clearly.

“When organics get mixed into the general waste at the landfill, they get choked of oxygen and decompose anaerobically. This produces toxic leachate sludge that poisons our watersheds.” Webb said.

“Worse yet, it also produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. In fact, methane from our landfill is one of the leading sources of greenhouse gas in Whitehorse.”

Webb said, echoing the website, “The solution is to divert organics.

“The landfill is supposed to be like a tomb,” he explained.

The idea is to make the landfill cap almost airtight, Webb added.

“Education is a big part,” he said. “There’s a fair amount coming in. We’re hoping to see an improvement.”

Clean wood or lumber and recyclables are another problem, Webb said.

Electronics were once a more substantial problem, but have been less so in recent years, Webb added.

He attributed some of the undesirable items ending up in the landfill as artifacts of the city’s rapid growth in recent years.

New residents might not be familiar with the system in Whitehorse, he suggested. It could be quite different than where they moved from, and they simply need a chance to adjust.

Another possibility is multi-family homes, Webb said, without enough receptacles and bins to properly accommodate the property.

“It’s hard to say exactly,” he said.

Those kind of adjustments aren’t “something that can happen overnight,” Webb added.

While the project is ongoing, he said, another audit is hoped to be done in the summer of 2024.

The first was done in 2018.

With the current landfill expected to last only until 2034 before it’s full, it’s a case of where every little thing can definitely help, Webb agreed.