Career Mirror -- by Mark Sproxton

Steve Wyton enjoys the engineering challeges surrounding landfills.

He's heard the comments dozens of times before, something along the lines of: "Oh, you're the garbage guy. Ha, ha, ha." In a way, yes, he is. But there's far more to garbage than many believe, especially when it comes to landfills. In his office, the neatly piled stacks of blueprints, separate piles of project documentation and manuals filled with regulations and codes serve as ample proof. Dozens of issues surround a dump, even more so today with society's focus on environmental protection and the reduce, reuse and recycle motto.

"It's not just a place to put garbage," explained Steve Wyton, Special Projects Engineer with the City of Calgary's Solid Waste Services division. "We have to use it as a resource." While it may sound unusual to consider our garbage as something useful, the University of Calgary graduate said it's the way of the future. And that's what holds his interest in waste management.

"As the city grows and there is more emphasis placed on the need for a clean environment, there'll be an increasing need for new and more effective landfilling techniques and technology." Wyton knows of what he speaks. He, along with a few colleagues, came up with the idea to use shredded vehicle tires to line a dump instead of gravel, and wound up saving the City big dollars. Not only that, the tires work more efficiently as a liner than gravel, which was the standard liner material for years. (Liners allow liquids in the landfill to drain.)

His first engineering experience had nothing to do with landfills, however. While completing his Civil Engineering degree with a focus on structural engineering, Wyton worked his summers in the oil and gas industry designing gas production facilities. Upon graduation he spent two years as an Engineer In-Training with the City and moved to construction projects with the Waterworks, Streets and Sewers departments.

Although he enjoyed the work in those departments, the move to solid wastes allows him opportunities to work on a diversity of projects. "The jobs is very challenging," Wyton explained. "It requires me to have expertise in a number of areas and to be able to co-ordinate many projects at once. It also allows me to do research into fields that I'm interested in as it relates to new and innovative technologies in the environmental sciences." Some of this research includes topics such as turning methane gas produced by landfills into a usable energy source.

Typically working 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday -- although workload may require some night and weekend work -- Wyton spends his winters drawing and designing landfills and required buildings and infrastructure, and summers supervising construction of those projects. On site work may require changing from casual clothes to work boots, a hard hat and other safety gear. Construction and project management engineers working for private landfills will undertake similar duties.

Technical knowledge remains the key to the work, but Wyton said the ability to communicate effectively and be well organized is also vital. Always with several projects on the go, Wyton has to ensure those constructing facilities understand what's required of them, and that the public knows their concerns about landfill issues are being heard. He regularly talks with local citizens about landfills.

Those starting as an Engineer-in-Training, as required by the licensing body APEGGA (Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta), can be expected to earn around $25,000 to $38,000 to start. A construction engineer with five years experience will earn in the $55,000 - $60,000 a year range.

While a construction engineer is one of the lowest paid engineering careers, Wyton said he's not in it for the money, rather, for the growing opportunities related to the environment. "The environmental engineering field is expected to grow rapidly in the very near future," he said. "I chose this career path to ensure the people of Calgary will always have a safe and clean environment to live in. My idea of wealth is knowing that I love my career and that I'm trying to make a difference in my part of the world."