Recyclers set sights on state fair

August 7, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - As fair-goers consume beverages and toss the containers into marked recycle bins, this years' fleet of volunteers will be collecting the aluminum, plastic and glass as well as piles of cardboard used by vendors, and taking the materials to an on-site sorting operation, according to Valley Community for Recycling Solutions Executive Director Mollie Boyer.

In 2004, the fair recycling program diverted from the landfill more than 16 tons of recyclables - that's 800 pounds more than 2003, according to the Green Star Web site.

This year will mark the fourth anniversary of a working relationship between coordinators of the Alaska State Fair, Green Star and VCRS.

"It doesn't just start the day of the fair. We started meeting in April. We'll be having our final debriefing in October. This is the most fun collaboration."

VCRS, with its large data base and volunteer network, solicits groups like the Wasilla chapter of Rotary International to assist with the program. Green Star coordinates the scheduling, giving groups or individual volunteers four-hour shifts, and VCRS does what it does best - recycles.

"We'll do a lot of the on-ground stuff. We handle material all the time, so we have a good comfort level with it," she said.

The convenient "trash" cans will be spray-painted green and marked as a place to discard aluminum, plastics or glass. The recyclables co-mingle, Boyer said.

First, the fair recycling program volunteers remove the plastic bags, which are usually about one-third full, from the between 150 and 200 Green Star recycling cans. Then, the volunteers dump the contents of the bags onto a sorting table located in the orange parking lot behind the lumberjack show grounds, Boyer said.

VCRS employees and other volunteers separate the aluminum, plastic and glass while a big drain on the table allows the liquids to run into a bucket. The company that supplies and maintains the portable toilets at the fair will also the septic truck hose to suck up the concoction of liquids.

"It's pretty down and dirty what we do," Boyer said.

Each type of recyclable sits in a roll-off, or Dumpster, until it's full. Alaska Waste, formerly Wasilla Refuge owned by Waste Management, will haul away the full roll-offs, Boyer said.

Everything except the glass will be taken to VCRS site at the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and N. 49th State Street intersections.

Last year, corrugated cardboard weighed in at 20,800 pounds.

"Cardboard is the big one," Boyer said.

Vendors go through boxes of product at a mad pace; and the cardboard takes up more space than bottles and cans. The cardboard gets baled at VCRS headquarters, Boyer said.

People interested in volunteering for fair recycling this year will receive free parking for up to two cars and free admission. For more information, call Jeanie Carlson with Green Star, 278-7839, or check out the Web site, greenstarinc.org.

Besides the volunteer-based program to recycle what could end up in the trash can, VCRS will staff an educational booth.

"If you're educating without offering the opportunity, people think you're a liar. People who don't understand why they should bother can find a reason at our booths," Boyer said. "You couldn't have a better promo than the fair recycling."

Dawn De Busk can be reached at

352-2252, or dawn.debusk@

frontiersman.com.