What happens to your recyclables?
Some recyclables such as cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic bottles and jugs are exported to the lower 48. Other recovered resources such as glass, cardboard, and mixed paper (plasitc is coming soon!) are utilized locally.
Instead of being buried in the landfill, here is where your recyclables go:
1) Solid Waste Services and other commercial haulers collect recyclables from your roll cart, or commercial dumpsters every other week.
2) The collected material is then dropped off at WestRock Anchorage Recycling Center. you can drop off cardboard, aluminum cans, mixed paper, tin/steel cans, and plastic bottles and jugs to the WestRock Recycling Center located at 6161 Rosewood Drive in Anchorage, or the Anchorage Regional Landfill Recycling Center located at 15500 Eagle River Loop Road. Both drop off locations currently do not charge a fee for the recycling service. The new Central Transfer Station located at 1208 E. 56th Ave also has drop off co-mingled carts along the public wall for ease of recycling, as well as composting through the compost season, and a drop off container for expired canned goods and other non-perishables for the Food Bank.
3) The WestRock Anchorage Recycling Center bales the recyclables and delivers it to the Port of Anchorage.
4) Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling (ALPAR) works with Alaska shippers to backhaul your recyclables at an affordable rate so the exported material can be sold to market in the lower 48. We need to apply Alaskan innovation into developing a circular economy, creating new industry such as the local manufacturer Thermo Kool of Alaska in Wasilla, who collects locally used cardboard and mixed paper to manufacture residential and commercial insulation, pet bedding, AKZorbit a material used in spill response for fuels, oils, other liquids, and a mulch product for commercial hydroseeding. By developing a circular economy in Anchorage, we minimize our carbon footprint, and maximize economical opportunities, in addition to lengthening the life of our landfill and being good environmental stewards of our natural resources.
5) Glass bottles and jars are hauled from the WestRock Anchorage Recycling Center to Central Recycling Services, where the glass is crushed into a recycled glass aggregate. Glass aggregate is used in local construction projects such as the Northern Lights Water Main Rehab project and the new Central Transfer Station. There is a stockpile of glass, and there is an aggressive effort to find new markets for recycled glass.
*Anchorage Recycling Partners:Alaska Waste
Alaska Botanical Gardens Anchorage
Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling
Alaska Plastic Recovery
Alaska Scrap Metal Recycling
American Landscaping
Anchor Gardens
WestRock Anchorage Recycling Center- 6161 Rosewood Drive
Anchorage re:Made
Batteries and Bulbs
Blue Arctic Waste Solutions
Blue Market Anchorage
Central Recycling Services
Green Star
Northern Waste
The Packaging Store
Total Reclaim
Yarducopia
*This listing is for informational purposes only, and Anchorage Solid Waste Services does not endorse any private business or agencies listed above. Prices, operating hours, and acceptable items for recycling, are subject to change. Please contact individual locations if you have further questions about their policies, prices, locations, or hours.
If you are a recycling enterprise and wish to be included as a partner, please contact:
Solid Waste Services Recycling 907-343-6274