Burgeo stuck with 'burn and cover' garbage plan

Thick smoke and a strong smell surrounds the landfill in Burgeo where garbage from about 600 homes is still being burned and buried.

Mayor Barbara Barter said the town has been doing this for years.

"Once it's burned, it's covered over with a layer of soil," Barter said. "So what we do is burn and cover, burn and cover."

Burgeo is awaiting a new waste management plan that will see the garbage stored and then moved to a central location on the west coast. Barter hopes this plan will be implemented soon.

"I would very much on behalf of the town like to see our garbage situation changed," said Barter.

But Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Kent said larger west coast communities are higher on the priority list.

"It's an environmental concern that we are really serious about dealing with," Kent said.

"Our goal as a province is to close 80 per cent of the landfills. We are well on our way. We have over 60 per cent of our landfills already closed."

The province plans to close the landfill and move Burgeo's garbage out by 2016.