A third plastic recycling event is set to kick off in Cordova on Friday, Aug. 26. Two previous events took place in June and July. The Copper River Watershed Project partnered with Alaska Commercial Company this summer.
One bale has been made with recyclables collected from the first event held June 24. Alaska Commercial Company plans to bale the material from the second event soon. It takes a minimum of four super sacks to make a small bale in Alaska Commercial’s facility.
For the first event, four super sacks were collected. Two sacks were filled with No. 1 plastics and two sacks were filled with No. 2 plastics. The second event on July 29 the total increased and 5 super sacks were collected. Two sacks of No. 1 plastics and three sacks of No. 2 plastics.
Individuals can collect and sort plastics at home for these events. Looks for imprinted No. 1 or No. 2 at the bottom of plastic containers.
Once the plastic bales are made, they go into the Alaska Commercial shipping container with AC’s cardboard and other recycling.
“The recycling (from Cordova) comes back to the AC Distribution Center in Anchorage via the dunnage barge,” said Tess O’Brien, the logistics coordinator for Alaska Commercial. “Then they combine the recycling from the other AC communities and send it to the Pacific Northwest via dunnage barge. The Pacific Northwest then adds their recyclables to the mass and takes if to Full Container Recovery in Tacoma, Washington.”
