The big, predominately green, bear-stymying garbage receptacles ubiquitous to the island may be soon partnered up with a blue variety as Wrangell weighs the benefits and costs of investing in a curbside recycling program.
Members on the Borough's Economic Development Committee were abuzz with the idea at their Thursday night meeting following a public presentation for a solid waste recycling management plan submitted by consultants Richard Hertzberg and Chris Bell the previous evening.
The biggest hook is the potential savings such a program would present the Borough, which currently pays for its solid waste disposal by Washington-based firm Republic Services.
The shipping cost of garbage is determined by volume and weight. Under the present agreement, the company offers financial incentives to communities that separate and bale recyclables for handling, the value of which returns as a credit to the community's waste management bill.
“The number that they gave us actually made a lot of sense,” said Daniel Blake, an Assembly member also serving on the committee.
He noted a potential downside for the plan is the initial investment of $85,000 needed for a crusher and baler, as well as the cost of purchasing new, blue collection receptacles to go alongside the borough's current green ones used for trash. The landfill facility is already equipped to accommodate a baler, once acquired.
If roadside pickup started, the Borough services would collect recyclables every other week.
“Eventually they hope to actually reverse that,” Blake explained, picking up recyclables weekly and garbage every alternate week. The idea is that garbage output will eventually decrease as more people participate in the recycling plan.
In addition to saving money by reducing trash, the rates credited back to the Borough's solid waste disposal bill improve if recyclables are presorted. Committee members agreed that the Borough's waste workers would be able to handle the task of sorting aluminum, glass, paper and plastic.
“It would be easy to separate aluminum; it would be easy to separate plastic,” noted Assembly member Mark Mitchell, also the newest addition to the committee.
As a founding community of the Southeast Alaska Solid Waste Authority (SEASWA), Wrangell entered into its current waste disposal agreement with Republic Services July 1 last year. The agreement is for five years and automatically extends in five-year increments afterward.
Petersburg launched its own recycling program in February and is still the only SEASWA community to do so.
“We're already ahead of them,” Blake pointed out. Wrangell already has most of the equipment necessary to collect and maneuver recycled waste. In addition, grant funds are currently available for a baler.
“In the short term, the near term, a smaller baler will work out for us,” said Carol Rushmore, Wrangell's Economic Development coordinator.
The new bins would not be too much of an investment either, at a cost of $50 to $85 per unit. Plus, Republic would ship them for free.
“That would come back to the customer, having a reduced cost,” member Marlene Clarke said of the investment.
“It's looking promising, which is really exciting,” said Rushmore.
A full PDF document of the plan – complete with rates and figures – can be found online, at http://www.wrangell.com/sites/default/files/meetingepackets/draft_recycling_plan.pdf.
The committee also was given a run-down of development with the local United States Forest Service (USFS) office by Ranger Bob Dalrymple.
“We had a good year,” he said. The new fiscal cycle started Oct. 1.
Despite the Wrangell district seeing steady downsizing over the past decade, Dalrymple reported that three new positions have finally been added, and other vacancies have been filled.
In recent news, USFS and Alaska Department of Fish and Game have been conducting bat monitoring.
Interestingly enough, Wrangell Island is a uniquely diverse home to the flying mammals, hosting all six varieties of bats native to Alaska.
Though an advisory will be forthcoming, he reported Alaska Department of Fish and Game has completed rabies testing on a Keen's myotis bat found in Wrangell in August, finding a positive result. The Center for Disease Control confirmed a sample last week.
As there had been no human exposure to it at the time, the specimen was put in queue for testing.
The committee also discussed the state of its waterfront master plan. Corvus Design had won the contract to design the plan and will be delivering public presentations on its progress Dec. 2 and 4.
“It'll be a good group of folks,” Rushmore said. The plan would revitalize the waterfront area stretching from The Marine Service Center to the dock and Stikine Inn.
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