compost in process
Begich Middle School's composting program is up and running! The school is collecting veggie/fruit scraps from 6th grade lunch; kitchen food scraps; coffee grounds from the school's café, staff lounge and team rooms; wood shavings from the applied teach classroom; shredded school office paper; manure from a staff member's horse farm; and the cardboard trays from the cafeteria. Students started their first batch of compost this past Friday.

Eighth grade science teacher, Scott McKim, says the main focus will be cafeteria composting and will entail the entire student body sorting their food scraps at the end of lunch and then carting the food scraps to the two tumbler-style composting bins on the property.

With all the crashes on the slopes at the Olympic Games' alpine events in the past few days, were there enough broken skis to supply a ski recycling facility? An odd question maybe but there are people out there thinking about questions like this.

What do we do with skis that aren't good enough for a ski swap? It may hardly seem worthy of contemplation considering my one pair of skis that I've owned since high school but then I think about the 100+ pairs that Lindsay Vonn travels with and the potential for waste skis becomes clear.

Do you cruise the phone book, do Google searches, or call the Muni if you have recycling questions? Let us know how your recycling questions are answered. According to a report put out by Earth911, about 12% more people used the Earth911 web resource for recycling information last year than the year before. What were people looking for?

Top 10 products searched in 2009 on Earth911
1. computers
2. batteries
3. televisions
4. paint
5. aluminum cans
6. used motor oil
7. CFLs
8. glass
9. fluorescent lamps
10. Christmas trees

There is Alaska-specific info available on Earth911 so check it out online or get the free iphone app -- iRecycle.

Keeping Alaska Beautiful!!
Each year, Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling recognizes individuals, organizations and businesses
who have made exceptional contributions to Alaska through their recycling and litter prevention efforts.
ALPAR is calling for nominations for outstanding contributions in 2009. Anyone can make a nomination by
submitting a brief description of who and why the person, organization or business contributions are exceptional.
Awards will be presented at the ALPAR Awards Banquet tentatively set for April 29, 2010. Deadline is March 12.

Pepsi Cola Bottling Company - Anchorage
PepsiCola of Alaska learned a key lesson in being green several years ago and it has put a smile on their bottom line ever since. The lesson: Cardboard and stretch film can be managed to save money and have a positive impact on the environment.

After evaluating their warehouse waste stream, Pepsi found that cardboard and plastic film were the primary materials going in the dumpster. They invested in a baler for cardboard and later another baler just for shrink wrap. All that material is delivered to the recycling center significantly reducing their waste hauling and landfill costs. In real dollars, Pepsi realized a savings of $14,000 per year.

Coke Plant Bottle
Coke's new PlantBottle will soon be on the shelves in Alaska starting with their Desani brand. Made with up to 30 percent plant based plastic blended with petroleum based materials, the new packaging has a lower reliance on non-renewables and will help reduce carbon emissions. The best news is that is can be recycled with other #1 PET bottles, which will allow consumers to recycle these bottles in the same way they recycle all #1 PET plastic bottles.

The renewable portion of the new bottle is primarily sugar-cane-based materials. The cane is processed to produce ethanol and converted through a series of chemical processes to a mono-ethylene glycol—a component normally derived from petroleum for use in plastic bottles.

To follow up on a few recent blog posts about the holiday recycling, I wanted to share some totals with you. At the Alaska Aces gift wrap and gift box recycling event, in just three days (four hours a day, so 12 hours total), Anchorage residents recycled more than a HALF TON of paper! Nice job!

And, the tally of Christmas trees recycled was 5,877 trees as of Monday, January 11, with almost a week remaining in the program. I'll let you know if the total reached 6,000 trees by the end when the final numbers are in. Thanks Anchorage for taking advantage of all the recycling opportunities provided during the holidays!

Scrap wood to be recycledAnchorage's Central Recycling Services (CRS) recently opened a recycling facility accepting all different types of construction and demolition (C&D) debris.

This article and recycling video at Alaska Dispatch's site shows how it's done.

CRS accepts scrap metal, rebar, concrete, shingles, scrap lumber, sheetrock, carpet and other materials and turns them into concrete and landscape aggregate, pallets, shredded rubber, animal bedding, mulch and more.

A to Z Guide Winter 2009-10 The Municipality's Solid Waste Services recently published its third issue of the A to Z Guide (that's Anchorage to Zero Waste). The most recent issue was mailed to many households in Anchorage so that it got to the right people -- those who might not have easy access to computers and people who just don't know yet that they are looking for this type of information! It covers topics like recycling, reuse and waste prevention but also ways to save money through energy efficiency, making winter easier by plugging in your car, and other helpful tips. Check it out online at www.muni.org/sws. Or look for it at local utility and city agency offices.

You may have been one of 600 people who received a free Alaska Aces ticket just for bringing your wrapping paper and gift boxes to the 5th Avenue Mall for recycling. If not, it'll happen again next year! This was the program's second year and it was streamlined to three days after Christmas, for four hours each day. But in that time, 600 people brought enough paper and boxes to fill an entire roll-off container and then some (actual quantities pending - we'll let you know when we get the info).

The program has been such a success since it began in 2008 that it was a big part of the Aces winning the 2008-2009 ECHL (that's the hockey league the Aces belongs to) Award of Excellence for Marketing. Good job Aces and thanks for helping to educate the community about recycling!

We at the Recycling Rap have made a New Year's resolution to blog more. We know that there is no point in visiting a blog if you don't find new and interesting information there so we are going to step it up and do our part to be sure we are making it worth your while to visit us at this site. We will share info several times a week and answer questions, so make it one of your resolutions to join us on the blog and learn more about recycling, waste prevention and other "green" living topics.

REMINDER: Be sure that if your Christmas tree is still hanging around that you get it to one of the recycling drop-offs before this weekend. Tree recycling ends on January 15. Participation this year has been fantastic so thanks everyone who recycled a tree! Trees can be dropped off at all CARRS stores in Anchorage, Eagle River and Palmer. No wreaths, tree stands or bags and be sure to undecorate your tree before dropping it off.

Treecycle

Total Reclaim's Larry Zirkle shows off shredded electronics ready for recyclingThis Saturday, November 14, from 10am until 3pm, residents can recycle household-generated electronics at Tri-Digital Computer Services in Eagle River. The event is for household customers only so, please, no business electronics.

Only $15/carload! Limit 2 TVs/monitors.
Additional TVs/monitors are $15 each.
Payment accepted by cash or check only.
NO SCAVENGING PERMITTED.

Location: Tri-Digital Computer Services
17034 N. Eagle River Loop Road, Eagle River
Across the street from the Elks Lodge and Cozy Carpet,
next to Valley Home Center Hardware (Trustworthy Hardware).

In cooperation with: Total Reclaim, Chugiak/Eagle River Chamber of Commerce, Tri-Digital Computer Services, Green Star, and ALPAR.

For further information, call Total Reclaim at 561-0544.

Scrap wood for recyclingCentral Recycling Services is accepting more types of contruction and demolition materials for recycling. Now residents and contractors can recycle all sorts of materials including commingled rubble, asphalt, concrete, scrap metal, wood, brick and stone, among other items. Fees are based on the type of material. Visit www.centralrecyclingservices.com for details.

Nursery Pot Recycling 2009

ALPAR and the Alaska Botanical Garden hosted the 3rd annual Garden Pot Recycling event on Saturday, August 8, with lots of community participation. The event, held in the parking lot adjacent to the Garden, was a one day drop off where all types of plastic nursery pots, cell packs and trays were recycled. With the help of great volunteers, over 1,600 pounds of number 2 pots and 2,156 pounds of numbers 5.6, and 7 containers were collected for recycling. And, approximately 400 lbs of the #2 pots were taken away for reuse, bringing the total to over 2 tons of plastic garden containers recycled in 2009, a 266 percent increase over the 1,500 pounds collected in 2008. Smurfit Stone Recycling (Anchorage Recycling Center) baled the pots and shipped them to markets in Seattle where they will become new plastic products such as plastic lumber.

On Saturday, August 22, Total Reclaim and Green Star will host an end-of-summer residential electronics-recycling event at its warehouse in the Huffman Business Park. Recycling rates have been reduced to $20 per carload.

There is a limit of two computer monitors (laptop, LCD, or CRT), or two TVs, or one of each per car (standard rates apply to any additional TV or computer monitors) but everything else is unlimited, as long as it fits in the car. No oversized trucks or trailers please. And the event is for residential customers only so no business drop-offs!

Location: 12101 Industry Way, Unit C4, Anchorage. Call 561-0544 for details.

Earth Machine backyard composting bins will also be available for purchase at $50 per composter. So after you unload your electronics for recycling, load up a compost bin and start reducing your organic waste at home! To see a photo of the bins or to learn where/when to get a bin if you can't make it to this event, visit www.aswcd.org/dirtday.html.

The event times have gotten confused on some of the communications about this event. The official time is 10am to 5pm but staff will be there at 8am in case anyone who saw the 8am start time comes early. However, the compost bins may not be available until 10am.

Earth Machine backyard compost binCome get an Earth Machine backyard composting bin! There are lots left at only $50 each. Stop by the woodlot at C Street and 100th Avenue (on C, between Dimond and O'Malley) any time during the woodlots hours and pick up as many bins as you'd like. Woodlot hours are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 9am to 7pm all four days. They will accept cash, check or charge. The bins come in two pieces to fit easily into any vehicle and also include a secure lid, large screws to anchor the bin to the ground, and a composting instruction booklet to answer your composting questions. Visit www.aswcd.org for more details or call 677-SOIL.

Garden pot recycling event: Save your pots, trays and cell packs for recycling on August 8th.
Save the date -Saturday, August 8th - for this year's garden pot recycling event. This drop off event will be held again in the Benny Benson Parking lot next to the Alaska Botanical Garden from 10 am to 5 pm. Brought to you by Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling (ALPAR) and the Alaska Botanical Garden with help from Smurfit Stone Recycling and Alaska Waste who are also sponsors.

This year, we'll be taking all plastic pots, cell packs and trays which must be sorted into 2 categories -#2 HDPE POTS and #5,#6,& #7 pots, trays and cell packs. New this year are the # 6 trays, pots and cell packs. These containers are rigid plastic that will crack or tear when bent. This addition should significantly increase the number of garden containers that can be recycled. Please remove metal hangers and excess dirt before bringing. Stack like pots to save space. And PLEASE, no pre or post event drop off. It's a one day event only!

Anchorage Soil and Water Conservation District's Anchorage Woodlot has mulch/landscape material available now. No charge to pick up. Open Thursday through Sunday, 9am to 7pm. More info available at www.aswcd.org.

Makes terrific covering for trails, beds, mud, agricultural applications etc. Two sizes available on site this year.

Location: Anchorage, C Street & 100th

Earth MachineIf you missed DIRT DAY but are still interested in getting a backyard composting bin, you're in luck. Another shipment of bins is on its way and you can pre-order one (or more!) by visiting www.aswcd.org. Just click on the Dirt Day and Earth Machine Order Information link to pre-order a bin. Bins will be available for pick-up at the Anchorage Soil & Water Conservation District woodlot located at C St and 100th Ave. The shipment is expected to arrive in early July but check back at www.aswcd.org for an announcement of the shipment's arrival.