Borough residents help eliminate landfill contamination

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) -April 22nd is Earth Day, and Green Star of Interior Alaska shares ways to help the environment.

If the spring cleaning bug has bitten you, decluttering may include getting rid of that old television or computer. To keep electronics out of the landfill, a local recycling agency accepts those items.

Volunteers with Green Star of Interior Alaska will be available on Saturdays to accept your outdated or non-working electronics. The non-profit organization encourages and enables residents to reduce waste, increase recycling, and even volunteer to help. The volunteers remove wires and disassemble devices as a part of their recycling process before the facility sends them off to the next processing destination.

Each Saturday leading up to Earth Day, Green Star will have volunteers sort electronic recyclables sent to their facility from noon to 4 p.m.

Chrerissa Dukelow, an employee of Green Star Interior Alaska, states, “It’s important to keep electronics out of the landfill because they have metals in them that are harmful to the environment and also the metals can be recycled and used again for making future electronics.”

The Borough Central Recycling facility accepts electronics and dead batteries, which are later transferred to Green Star of Interior Alaska. Dukelow adds, “Some of the metals are rare Earth elements which are very difficult to mine. So it’s important to both keep them out of the landfill from contaminating water and to prolong the life of the landfill. Also, we can use these finite resources to their fullest potential.”

To find more information on how to drop off your electronics or to be a volunteer, contact info@iagreenstar.org.

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