A Tour of the Anchorage Central Transfer Station

EV garbage and recycling trucks

SWS has two electric collection trucks in their fleet. They were obtained through a Department of Energy Grant. The trucks are used for both trash and recycling routes, and make it through the full routes on a charge. The perks? Cleaner air for residents and drivers, reducing fuel costs, and they’re quiet!

Photo by Dyani Chapman | TPIN

Hazardous Waste and the Reuse Store

Anchorage residents can drop up to 40 pounds of household hazardous waste off per day. This includes things like motor oil, detergent, pesticides, paint, fluorescent and high intensity discharge light bulbs, lithium batteries, electronics, etc. Ed and his team do a few things with these materials. 

First, they put some partially full containers of products in the Reuse store. Other visitors can peruse and take what they’d like free of charge. Need a bit of paint or glue or some other hazardous product? Try the Reuse store first.

Supposedly, this selection had already been pretty picked over, but there can be some treasures that will save you money and divert waste.Photo by Dyani Chapman | TPIN

The team then separates things out that can be recycled and sends that to the lower 48. 

The rest goes to the landfill, but a special part to reduce harm, so don’t pre-empt that process by just chucking stuff in your dumpster. 

PSA- it’s really dangerous to throw lithium batteries in your garbage- even those tiny ones. If they are punctured or damaged, they can start fires in the backs of trucks, on the sorting floor, or in the landfill. Do your part and make sure they get to the hazardous materials team. 

Funfact: Antifreeze is actually and fully recycled within the state of Alaska

Republic Services will collect, repurify, and sell antifreeze ready for use. This can happen an unlimited number of times.Photo by Dyani Chapman | TPIN

Appliance Collection:

You can drop your appliances off at the Central Transfer Station, and Alaska Scarp Metal will collect them to export for recycling. This is definitely the best way to rid yourself of truly broken appliances. Repair should always come first though.

Diversion: 

There is nothing like looking at the sorting floor to make you prioritize diversion. 

A large window looks out to the sorting floor with the reflection of observers. Garbage trucks dump their loads here, and residents come come dump larger items as well. The bulldozer sorts it out for the cherry pickers to efficiently pack large trucks to transport trash to the landfill.Photo by Dyani Chapman | TPIN

Right across from the Central Transfer Station is the Materials Recovery Center- it’s open during the summer months through October, Thursday-Saturday 8am-3:30pm . 

They collect: 

• Wood (brush, trees cut shorter than 6 ft, debris free of metal from residential properties, and clean tree stumps. 
• Organics, which includes manure from herbivores, fruit and vegetable scraps, garden scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, yard debris, and wood chips. 
• Plastics: #1, #2, and #5, in any shape. These are used to make Grizzly Wood, which can be used for things like picnic tables, decking, etc. 

Comingled recycling collected in bins and recycling collected on Rosewood is baled and sent to the lower 48. 

• Aluminum recycling works really well- the material doesn’t degrade, so it really can be done on an endless loop. Make sure to always recycle your aluminum cans. 
• The ONLY plastic that can be recycled in Alaska are #1 and #2 bottles with a screw cap. No other #1s and #2s, and no other numbers. Wishcycling does harm, so don’t do it.

 Home composting is great and there are a lot of resources to help. 

• Anchor Gardens  will teach you how! 
•  A good composting mix requires both nitrogen heavy “green” material like food scraps and carbon heavy “brown” materials like leaves or woodchips. Alaska Community Action on Toxics hosts the Midtown Garden Depot and a Community Garden at 2930 Cheechako Street. Along with tools, manure, a community garden, and onsite composting, folks can both donate and pick up carbon heavy brown material.

Reuse, repurpose, repair

• Extending the lifetime of our goods is one of the best ways to keep things out of landfills. Mending clothes, replacing cracked screens, using something we already have in a creative way will reduce the pace of goods entering our landfills. 

Reduce

• Using less is the best strategy to reduce landfill waste. This can come in many forms.
  • Thinking critically about purchases
  • Buying things that will last
  • Buying secondhand instead of new
  • Choosing options with less packaging
  •  Making do without
  • Sharing with a friend or family member. As an example- the tools to clean a dryer vent are only used a handful of times per year- those can easily be borrowed, lent, and shared.