Scrap metal and junk cars are piled up at Petersburg’s landfill in 2017. Eight Southeast cities are working to set up regular barge runs to recycle metal junk. (Photo by Joe Viechnicki/KFSK)
Eight Southeast Alaska communities will resume scrap metal recycling as early as this April.
The Southeast Alaska Regional Solid Waste Authority is working with Waste Management, a large garbage removal and recycling business. The authority includes Petersburg, Wrangell, Craig, Klawock, Thorne Bay, Kasaan, Hydaburg and Coffman Cove.
Petersburg Public Works Director Karl Hagerman said old cars, broken construction equipment and other scrap metal has been piling up for several years.
Hagerman said prices have been low, so it would have cost more to ship scrap metal south than could be recovered by selling it for recycling. He said the price was $175 a ton last summer, but could be up to $230 a ton later this spring.
“That’s the value in Seattle, not in Petersburg, Alaska. So, the trick is transportation and the cost of getting that metal to market,” he said.
The solid waste authority reached a scrap metal recycling agreement with another company about four years ago. But it fell through. Wrangell has had a large amount of scrap metal barged off through a separate agreement.
Hagerman told the recent Southeast Conference Mid Session Summit that the spring collection will be a one-time deal.
“The second part of the scrap metal agreement with Waste Management is hopefully to set up a long-term agreement with the company to remove metal from the communities on an ongoing basis,” he said.
The authority is also looking at what’s needed to continue hazardous waste pickups from Southeast communities.
The current contract is running out and the company doing the work doesn’t want to continue. Hagerman said a committee is considering three proposals to keep the pickups going.
Several larger Southeast communities have their own contracts for recycling scrap metal and hazardous waste.
Learn more about Southeast trash issues through our eight-part series, Talking Trash.
Recent headlines
Gardentalk – Starting saps and sprouts to sculpture and stabilize soggy soil
To beautify and dry out a wet section of your yard, Master Gardener Ed Buyarski recommends ligularia, primose, highbush cranberry, dogwood, cottonwood, and willow.
Gas thief strikes kids’ summer camp van, frustrates Harris Street neighborhood
Juneau Police Lt. Krag Campbell said gas thefts are an ongoing issue around Juneau. The typical telltale sign is a damaged fuel door, though, not a tank drilled out from underneath the vehicle.
‘When The Fog Clears’ filmmaker aims to make Forgotten War unforgettable
The Aleutian Islands served as the battleground for some of the bloodiest conflicts on American soil since the Civil War. But most people have never heard of the Battle of Attu, the invasion of Kiska, or even the Aleutian campaign. A Japanese filmmaker wants to change that.
Fundraising continues as Project Playground rebuild gets underway next week
The beloved playground burned down last year. Construction on the new and improved playground should wrap up in September.
![This is college, [southeast] Alaska Style. Online & on-campus classes that work for your life. University of Alaska Southeast](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2018/03/18C001-UAS-Tile-Image.jpg "18C001-UAS-Tile-Image")
