The new year kicks off with a brand new recycling center in the Mat-Su! The new center opened December 16th, but will host a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony this Thursday, January 6th, at 3:00 p.m. The public is invited to attend; however, the center will not be open for recycling that day.

The new facility is located at 9465 E. Chanlyut Circle, off 49th State, just before entering the MSB Central Landfill, near the animal shelter.

Valley Community Recycling Solutions (VCRS) closed down for a short time in December to move its operations to the new location from its previous location off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway where it spent the past eight years. During those years, VCRS served the community’s recycling needs out of a small trailer and a very leaky processing facility. The new facility has 15,000 square feet of processing floor, compared with just 1,000 square feet at the old site.

The new recycling center, which is both a materials-handling facility and an education center, took a little over a year to construct but planning and fundraising has been an ongoing process for more than a decade.

The site could also some day house a Reuse Store to recirculate construction materials and other usable items that otherwise would end in the landfill.

Currently, the new facility accepts cardboard, paper, newsprint, aluminum cans, steel cans, #1 PET and #2 HDPE plastic bottles and jugs, plastic grocery bags, and clean foam packing peanuts. Most material is baled and shipped Outside. Some goes to an Alaska insulation manufacturer.

For more information, contact VCRS at 907-745-5544 or visit www.valleyrecycling.org.