Rising shipping costs have Southeast Alaska leaders looking for disposal solutions

In towns like Petersburg, Alaska, rising disposal costs and difficult geography have complicated solid waste operations.

Because it’s an archipelago, towns along Southeast Alaska’s coast aren’t able to truck waste to a shared landfill. Many municipalities in the region bale waste and barge it down to the Lower 48, reports Alaskan news station KTOO.

Chris Cotta, director of public works in Petersburg, Alaska, tells KTOO that shipping prices are the biggest sanitation challenge across the region. Higher costs will eventually mean higher prices for customers, so the town has explored waste diversion as a solution.

Cotta estimates that nearly half of baled trash could be composted or recycled.

“It’s safe to say a really significant portion of what goes into the garbage can could be diverted in some fashion,” he says. “Either converted to compost or put into a recycling stream and reused as something else.”

The local tribe, the Petersburg Indian Association, already has a small composting program, which Cotta is looking to expand to the whole community.

Cotta and others also are exploring region-wide solutions. Over a decade ago, eight municipalities in Southeast Alaska joined the Southeast Alaska Solid Waste Authority, or SEASWA, of which Cotta is chair.

“If we could get some of the larger communities to join up and be part of SEASWA, I do think we’d have a lot more bargaining power,” he tells KTOO.

When the group looked at solutions about a decade ago, they found baling and shipping garbage south to be the most effective solution; however, Cotta says increased shipping costs have changed that calculation.

Forecasted price increases have worried some residents and organizations. Shannon Baird, director of finance at Peterson School District, says she estimates that disposal costs for the district could reach $15,000 per school year.

“That’s $15,000 that we don’t have to put into other things like student activities, and school supplies,” she says.

SEASWA plans to apply for funding to conduct a waste study this fall.