Fairbanks borough plans new recycling facility at landfill

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) - A new recycling facility is in the works in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, with Mayor Grier Hopkins proposing $2,520,000 to design and scope the project.

Currently, the borough’s recycling program is run by Green Star of Interior Alaska out of the Central Recycling Facility the borough is leasing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks for $100,000 a year.

The new location, according to Hopkins, would involve refurbishing a warehouse that currently sits vacant in the borough’s Solid Waste Facility, a landfill in southeast Fairbanks.

“It’s going to be really fiscally responsible and [ensure] we’re using the infrastructure that we have in place as best we can. It’s right there at the landfill, so it’ll be able to take advantage of the scales and the personnel and the equipment that they already have there,” he said.

Hopkins said the current facility does not have doors that are big enough to fit commercial trucks, nor balers that can handle commercial volume.

“A number of years ago, the military gave the borough what’s called a horizontal baler, and that’s been sitting in this very same warehouse that we’re hoping to refurbish with the scoping and design, and it’s just been sitting there for a couple of years, so we’ll be able to utilize that at this facility,” the mayor said.

This baler, combined with the increased space at the proposed warehouse, would make recycling economical in the borough, according to Hopkins, and the new facility would be able to accept recycling from the borough itself, as well as the school district, larger businesses, the university, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and nearby military bases.

Recycling, he said, could also come from curbside pickup across the City of Fairbanks and dumpsters at the borough’s transfer sites, where residents can drop off their recycling instead of taking it all the way to the central facility.

Operations there would also extend the life of the landfill by diverting materials that would otherwise go there.

The $2,520,000 appropriation would come out of the Solid Waste Disposal Enterprise Operating Fund and is scheduled for public hearing at the assembly’s Thursday meeting.

Hopkins said he expects the money for construction to be up for appropriation by the assembly next year.

“We’re hoping to be building come summer of 2027,” Hopkins said.

He described the refurbishing of the currently-empty steel building as involving insulation as well as the installation of an HVAC system and electricity.

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