Recycling in Shageluk involves everyone from those who save the cans to those who load the airplanes and fly the aluminum cans back to Anchorage through the ALPAR Flying Cans Program.

Shageluk's youth helped with the work and after the big spring can stomp, they had a pizza party and watched the new release of Alice in Wonderland at the Teen Center.

Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling (ALPAR) in partnership with Northern Air Cargo, Ryan Air, PenAir, Bering Air, Frontier Flying Service and Grant Aviation has kicked off a new pilot program to recycle plastic bottles in rural Alaska.

Ten communities and their tribal councils, who have exemplary aluminum can recycling programs through ALPAR’s long-standing Flying Cans program, were chosen to participate in the pilot program for recycling #1 PET plastic bottles.

The new date for the grand opening is Thursday, June 17, at 1:30pm. See blog below for details.

Alaska Waste will be commissioning its biodiesel plant on Wednesday, June 16, at 1:30 p.m. at 6301 Rosewood Street in Anchorage.

It is the first commercially sized plant of its kind in the state. The plant is designed to produce approximately 250,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel per year, much of which will be used by Alaska Waste’s fleet of trucks.

Congratulations to the Fairbanks Rescue Mission Recycling Center! They were one of 82 organizations recently selected from a pool of 1700 applicants to receive a grant through the national Coca Cola and Keep America Beautiful Bin Grant program.

Grants were awarded for a diverse range of settings from 37 states, including 14 colleges and universities, 32 municipalities and other local government entities, 20 K-12 schools, 17 nonprofit organizations, and additional community groups and Native American tribes.

Although plastic from gardening containers are one of the least valuable grades of plastics that can be recycled, it can be done on a limited basis. So, once again, Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling (ALPAR,) the Alaska Botanical Garden, Alaska Waste and Smurfit Stone Recycling will host a one day drop off for plastic garden containers on Saturday, August 21st from 10 am to 5 pm at the Alaska Botanical Garden parking lot.

A friend sent me a link to an Earth 911 article about 8 Ways to Green Your Camping Trip. After reading them, I thought I'd do a quick modification for Alaska. Take a look at the original, then see how it REALLY should be done in Alaska.

Dick Divelvess, Owner of Thermo-Kool of Alaska accepts ALPAR Board of Directors Award for Outstanding Service

On Thursday, April 29, ALPAR (Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling) recognized outstanding achievements in recycling and litter prevention in Alaska in 2009 at their annual awards banquet held at the historic Alaska Railroad Freight Shed. This year’s theme “Recycle, Reuse, Renovate!” celebrated the greening of the construction industry in Alaska.

Yes, I will admit that Alaska does not exactly have a thriving wine production industry but, we do drink some wine so I thought this topic might be somewhat relevant. I've been noticing that other areas around the country have started campaigns to recycle wine corks. Since we can't, at the moment, recycle our wine bottles, maybe we can convince some of the local retailers to participate in the national Cork ReHarvest movement by collecting corks.

BUT DON'T GO RUNNING TO TARGET WITH YOUR RECYCLABLES! Target's new recycling program was introduced just in time for Earth Day and, according to local Target store managers, it is designed for the convenience of Target shoppers. That means, if you buy a Frappacino at the in-store Starbucks, yes, feel free to recycle your glass bottle in the bin near the store entrance. But don't show up with all the glass you've been storing up for the past year! You will not be welcomed with open arms.

Can you guess how many pounds a bale of recycled paper weighs? You could win a $100 gift card to Fred Meyer if your guess is the closest at the Earth Day Expo this Saturday afternoon. Join the Anchorage School District and the Recycling Community at an Earth Day Expo on April 17 from NOON to 3pm. The event will highlight and promote the Anchorage School District's recycling and energy

Be sure to watch your mailbox this week and next for the newest issue of MOA Solid Waste Services' "Anchorage to Zero Waste" Guide. There's information about the new set-up at the landfill that includes collection of additional recyclables as well as a new traffic pattern. The guide also has a big map of where all the recyclables we generate go. Read about "green" yard and gardening tips from Jeff Lowenfels and get the latest info from People Mover.

Evergreen Nursery & Garden Center will begin its summer season soon. Evergreen will be taking green waste at its 760 E. 120th Ave. location and the nursery sites all summer long, Monday through Saturday. Contact 344-2588 or visit http://alaskaevergreen.com for details.

Summer Rates:
$10.00 per pick-up load of grass
$10.00 per cubic yard of grass - commercial rate
$15.00 per cubic yard of manure

Evergreen also will have Certified USCC compost available for sale in May!

The recycling symbol is universally recognized but do you know where it came from? Believe it or not, a company here in Alaska has ties to its origins.

The three arrows of recycling were first created back around the very first Earth Day in April 1970. The Container Corporation of America, a paperboard company, was beginning to realize a growing environmental movement. This company is now Smurfit-Stone, which owns and operates Anchorage's recycling center!

Join the Anchorage School District and the Recycling Community at an Earth Day Expo on April 17 from noon to 3pm. The event will highlight and promote the Anchorage School District's recycling and energy
conservation efforts, as well as provide a public forum to learn about the available services and ongoing recycling efforts of the City, businesses and non-profits throughout Anchorage. And celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day!

Earth MachineThere are still a handful of compost bins left for purchase from last season. If you'd like an Earth Machine bin for your backyard for only $50, contact Total Reclaim at 561-0544. Supplies are running short so you may want to call before heading down to Total Reclaim.

The bins are 33" in diameter by 33" high. They weigh 15 lbs. and hold 10.5 cubic feet (about 70 gallons) of material. The bins come apart and the two halves stack inside each other for easy transport.

Here's a great example of small changes that add up to big savings. Following a successful pilot program, the Anchorage School District is expanding its energy conservation program to 27 schools across the district. Each school in this year’s program is above-average in their energy use per square foot as compared to other district schools.

Folks in the Railbelt who have recycled their waste over the past 25 years rarely think about the fact that the reason they enjoy free recycling services is that the shipping companies donate a large portion of the shipping of recyclables to markets in Seattle.
Last year over 23,000 tons of plastics, paper, cardboard and cans were shipped to lower 48 markets thanks to the generosity of Horizon Lines, Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Lynden with help from the Alaska Railroad and Northland Services.

Did you know that, despite the setback of losing glass recycling in Anchorage, we're still ahead of the curve in some respects? Even in progressive, recycling-minded, mandatory-program communities on the east coast, plastic bags and film are not being recycled other than the grocery bag programs at local supermarkets. So don't take it for granted when you toss your bread bag or dry cleaner bag into your recycling bin!

REMEMBER, plastic bags and film need to be taken to the Anchorage Recycling Center -- they cannot be put in curbside recycling carts if you have curbside service.

There are several different types of degradable plastics, making them just as confusing as regular plastics when it comes to recycling and managing them.

1) PLA (Polylactic Acid) is its very own unique plastic resin type. Often you'll see "PLA" on the bottom with the recycling arrows.

2) Plastic additives also can be added to other types of plastics to make them degrade. These include oxo-degradable additives and bio-degradable additives. Oxo-degradables are triggered by light and heat whereas bio-degradables are triggered by microbes. Oxo-degradables need oxygen so they don't degrade much in landfills unless the process has already begun before it hits the landfill. Bio-degradables don't need oxygen, just microbes, but the break-down process is slow and can take up to a decade.