BY Adam Wasch, Energy Outreach Consultant for CCHRC and UAF CES
Energy Focus: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner May 14th, 2009, Section A3
It’s not easy recycling in Fairbanks. Just as soon as you load your vehicle full of cans, bottles, and plastics to drop off at the last place you took them, it turns out that whoever accepted recycling before has since stopped, disappeared, or is serving time. In all fairness, it’s not easy being a recycler, either. Unlike other places where recycling options are plentiful and profitable, Fairbanks is remote enough to make recycling a costly business. After all, it takes labor and fuel to process and transport recycling.
So, hurray for Interior Alaska Green Star, which is hosting the first ever Recycle Roundup event this Saturday, May 16th at the Tanana Valley Fairground’s parking lot located at the corner of College and Aurora roads in Fairbanks. If you’ve collected it, there’s a good chance you can drop it off there.
Accepted items include newspaper, mixed paper, cardboard, food cans, aluminum cans, glass, plastic (#1 & #2), glass, building materials, clothing, food, compostable material, and household hazardous wastes (such as used oil, paints, and batteries). If it can’t be recycled, it will be re-used or disposed of safely. Help will be on hand from the Fairbanks North Star Borough Solid Waste Division.
The Recycle Roundup is also your chance to dispose of electronic waste such as unwanted computers, monitors, and televisions responsibly. For a small fee that helps defer costs charged by Green Star’s business partner in the Lower 48, electronic waste will be stripped of recyclable metals and reusable parts here in the United States while toxic contents will be properly managed.
Not able to make it to the fairgrounds this week’s event? Take a look at the handy chart below to see where you can take different kinds of recycling throughout the year – but call and double check before you do. Recycling can be a tricky business in these parts. Contact Green Star at 907- 452-4152 for more information or visit their website.
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For an up-to-date copy of the Fairbanks Recycling Options file and additional information, please see Interior Alaska Green Star’s pdf.
Adam Wasch promotes energy awareness for the Cooperative Extension Service (CES) and the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC).
For questions or comments please contact CCHRC at (907) 457-3454