Recycling guide points the way to 'better choices'

Every year, the Wrangell Cooperative Association reminds the community about the recycling and waste disposal options available in town. The initiative, said Kim Wickman, who coordinates the effort, is about "giving people the information they need to make better choices."

Wickman believes that most people want to lessen their environmental impact, but don't always know how. "Making (recycling) simpler for people makes them a lot likelier to do it," explained Wickman.

The WCA's 2022 disposal guide lists what to do with hazardous wastes, paper, aluminum cans, worn-out gillnets, dirty motor oil, packing material, scrap metals, printer ink cartridges, food scraps and more.

Copies of the guide are available at the library, the Wrangell Cooperative Association office, and the Sentinel office.

For trash with no place to go except the borough dump on the north end of the island, the drop fee went up this summer to $18 per cubic yard from $14. Each additional cubic yard is $8, up from $7.

The borough had not raised the fee since 2019 and needed to cover its costs, including the rising expense of shipping the trash to an approved landfill in eastern Washington state.

Used tires also go South, but not until they are chopped into smaller chunks to more easily fit into a shipping container. Residents can bring their tires to the dump; the disposal fee is $4 each.

Shipping the tires is at a standstill now that the tire shredder, which is shared by a network of seven other Southeast municipalities, has been moved to Petersburg. Thankfully, when the shredder left Wrangell this past spring, the Public Works Department had managed to put a "pretty good dent" in the borough's massive pile of tires, according to director Tom Wetor. The shredder eventually will return to Wrangell on its rotation through the region.

Before the shredder arrived, the borough had a pile of an estimated 20,000 tires that could fill approximately six shipping containers. Wetor filled two 40-foot-long containers with shredded tires and one of them has shipped.

The recycling guide produced by WCA IGAP (Indian Environmental General Assistance Program) also reminds residents that aluminum cans can be recycled in the wooden bin outside Bob's IGA.

Liz Roundtree, who runs the program, stressed the importance of using the bins for aluminum only - no glass. Currently, recycled cans are collected by the Girl Scouts, who stomp on the cans to crush them. Crushing the cans allows the girls to make more money per shipment.

"We hand-crush all of our cans by foot," joked Roundtree. For her and the troop, glass bottles in the bin pose a major safety concern. "I'm terrified one of these days one of my kids is going to step on a glass bottle," she added.

Roundtree hopes to expand the recycling program to include two new wooden bins with hand-operated can crushers on either side. The bin they are using now is almost 20 years old and has begun to fall apart, so she is soliciting donations from the community to pay for new materials. A sticker will be added to the bins for each individual and business that donates.

The troop sells the cans to Tacoma Metals in Washington state. The funds the girls raise will be used to support their upcoming trip to the Girl Scouts National Convention at Disney World.

Once the swim season starts in November, the task of can collection will transfer to the high school swim club, which will use the recycling funds to cover competition travel costs.

Got extra packing materials lying around the house? Lover Bear Candle will collect and reuse them.

Anna Angerman, owner of the company, started the recycling initiative shortly after Lover Bear launched in 2019. Shipping fragile candles requires lots of packaging, but Angerman got tired of constantly buying, sending, receiving and throwing away bubble wrap.

By crowdsourcing packing material from the community, she cut down on costs and environmental impact simultaneously. "Nobody likes throwing away a full box of plastic," she said.

Angerman accepts a wide variety of packing materials, from bubble wrap to foam peanuts to shredded craft paper. "We try not to be picky about it," she said. "For the most part, we use everything."

These days, the company gets donations from about five people per month.

To donate, message Lover Bear Candle on social media or call them at 1-907-305-0525 to set up a pickup time and location. Donations are usually picked up within a day or so.