Progress on transitioning from moving Wrangell’s trash in open-top containers aboard barges to bales of shredded and compressed waste in closed containers is moving slower than expected due to equipment delivery delays, said Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad.
“We can anticipate all the baler equipment to arrive by next week,” she said, adding that there are several other pieces that will take longer to arrive.
Due to staffing and material shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Al-Haddad said, manufacturers worldwide have experienced delays building and shipping equipment. In particular, Wrangell is waiting on the delivery of a mobile metal ramp to set up alongside the trash baler, and for electrical components to install three-phase power to meet the higher power demand of the electric-powered baler, she said.
The equipment will be installed at Wrangell’s solid waste transfer facility.
“All that stuff needs to be in place before we can install the baler and actually bale solid waste,” she said. “We’ll just keep plugging along until we can get all the parts and pieces in place.”
Al-Haddad said, as a rough guess, trash baling will start late fall or early winter. Wrangell’s trash goes by barge, train and truck to a landfill in Washington state.
The borough assembly approved over $600,000 to purchase the baler and other equipment. The move away from moving trash in open-top containers comes as Alaska Marine Lines and Republic Services are requiring their Southeast customers to move trash in sealed boxes after fires in the open trash containers.
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