Glass-recycling revived, 'til August

July 10, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA -- Valley Community for Recycling Solutions was prepared to discontinue its glass-recycling program after Saturday until an anonymous Valley resident stepped forward with a project and a remedy, according to Mollie Boyer, VCRS' executive director.

The unnamed person plans to use the glass as backfill on his property, crushing the substance with heavy equipment until it has the texture of sand or gravel. By using material from the recycling bins, he will keep the program alive until Aug. 1, she said.

"He just wants to stay out of the limelight, and be background support. He thinks what we're doing is great," Boyer said. The anonymous individual encouraged other community members to step forward with ideas that could prolong the glass-recycling program while VCRS seeks a long-term solution, she said.

"If we can use it locally, that's the ideal. We'll work with folks to find a workable commodity for their projects," she said.

Mat-Su's recycling program faced an end when Polar Supply, a for-profit Anchorage-based business decided to charge VCRS $800 a week to transfer glass from the Wasilla to Anchorage. The company crushes the glass in its plant; the product is then used in sand-blasting heavy equipment to remove rust and old paint.

"Our intention was not for this to impact glass recycling. There was a cost involved in moving it," Polar Supply sales manager Dave Shooner said last month.

"Keep in mind, this is not a regular line of business. That's a special deal Polar Supply was doing for VCRS, running back and forth," Mary Fisher, executive director for Alaskans for Litter Prevention & Recycling, said. "In a way, it's too bad they're going to start charging for it. But, they're a for-profit organization. They have to make money in the process, or they're in trouble."

Polar Supply will honor its agreement, picking up the last load of glass on July 15, according to Boyer. Polar Supply will be trucking the recycled glass collected through Saturday, she said.

Some of the long-term solutions VCRS is considering include purchasing a $70,000 glass crusher and marketing the product. Glass is an inert, or nontoxic material, so it doesn't pollute the environment by being stored somewhere, Boyer explained.

"It can be used so many different ways," she said. "Using it for backfill is better than putting in organics like stumps or wood chips that decompose and create sink holes. Glass is more similiar to sand or gravel in its makeup."

VCRS employees have been busy with a new baler, an upcoming arts and music fund-raiser, and the expected arrival of a 42-by-60 portable storage building, so it hasn't had time to focus on long-term solutions for glass recycling.

The extension of the glass-recycling program "is a good opportunity for people to think about what they can do with the glass. We're wide open," Boyer said. "Artists come forward, make tiles."

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252.