"Stuff" is piling up in rural Alaska villages, and most troublesome are obsolete electronics -- old TVs, computers and batteries that contain hazardous metals and chemicals. The Nome Nugget reports on a new business and community effort to get unwanted electronics out of the villages and back to Anchorage, where they can be properly handled. Continued on jump

Bering Air will participate by getting the waste out of the villages and into to Nome free of charge. ... Once the goods arrive at Bering Air's hangar, a team from Kawerak Inc. will come and prepare the items to be shipped to Anchorage or gather them until enough recyclables and waste arrive to merit preparing a palette. Palettes ... will be taken to Everts Air Cargo, which will fly the goods to Anchorage for a reduced backhaul rate.

Once in Anchorage, the e-waste recycling firm Total Reclaim will accept the goods and process them, again at a reduced rate.

But those involved point out the villages are responsible for getting the chain of assistance started.