Anchorage Daily News

The Assembly voted Tuesday night to launch a curbside recycling program that will start with a fraction of Anchorage households.

The new program is expected to begin late this year for about 30 percent of the city garbage utility's customers. Those households will also get a new set of garbage rates, based on how much trash they throw out rather than a flat monthly fee.

Recycling supporters swamped the Assembly chambers at Loussac Library, calling on the Assembly to start the program and also vote for another proposal that would have raised landfill fees in order to pay for other citywide recycling efforts.

But the Assembly voted 7-4 to delay that proposal until August.

If approved, it would have increased the cost of dumping a ton of trash at the landfill or transfer station by $8. The money would pay for additional drop-off sites for recyclables, "public outreach and education," recycling containers in public places and other projects, according to the city.

Assemblywoman Debbie Ossiander said too many questions remain about exactly how the landfill fees would be spent.

For example, she said, one plan for the money was to have recycling experts visit Anchorage schools, but that idea hasn't been discussed with the school board even though schools jealously guard class time.

City Manager Mike Abbott told the Assembly that delaying the increased landfill fee would be a mistake, because those fees would improve recycling citywide while the new curbside program would only apply to a few thousand households over the next year.

"The vast majority of the community will see no benefit to the Assembly action this evening," Abbott said.

Dozens of recycling supporters testified for more than two hours, calling on the Assembly to approve the proposals -- particularly the increased landfill fees that would direct money to school recycling.

"I can't go one day driving home without seeing trash on the streets ...there is a problem here, and it's just that not enough people care," said Brandon Foy, a recent University of Alaska Anchorage graduate.

Hugging herself, 10-year-old Bethany Raypold wore a green Junior Girl Scout vest and read the Assembly a prepared statement: "Our world is dependent on us to recycle. It is the best thing to do for our future."

She's working on her citizenship badge, her troop leader said.

One speaker, Don Hanks, said landfill rates are currently unfair because people who live in apartments and have Dumpster service have to pay for an earlier landfill fee increase, but people who get curbside garbage service don't.

That's because the city raised tipping fees -- the amount you pay to dump one ton of garbage at the landfill -- earlier this year. That wasn't to pay for recycling services, but to operate the city-owned garbage utility, particularly to save money for closing the landfill when it's full.

In Anchorage, city-operated Solid Waste Services serves the core of Anchorage. Alaska Waste, a private company, collects garbage for the other roughly 80 percent of Anchorage residential market.

If the city raises the cost of dumping garbage at the landfill, customers of both companies would likely see increases.

The Solid Waste Services customers who get the new curbside recycling program will get a container to put their recyclables in, and be asked to choose how much garbage they plan to throw away, from 32 to 96 gallons a week. The more trash they toss, the more they will pay.

The Assembly killed another garbage related proposal -- one related to the city running a compost facility -- because a private company recently announced it plans to start a compost operation in south Anchorage.

The city has been locked for months in a lawsuit with the operator of a compost facility at Point Woronzoff, which is now closed.

Find Kyle Hopkins' political blog online at adn.com/alaskapolitics or call him at 257-4334.

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