Don’t we already have a CRF?

NEWS FLASH – CRF funding has been APPROVED! Tell FNSB thanks!

Don’t we already have a Central Recycling Facility?

Here is an outline of some of the relevant facts about the CRF and why we need a new one sooner rather than later – and we are grateful the borough has moved the CRF back into current projects!:

• In 2017 the FNSB opened our current CRF – and we are truly very glad they did. However:
  • The current CRF is in a rented building.
  • The current CRF does not utilize horizontal balers capable of processing recyclable materials to their fullest market potential.
  • The current CRF cannot accommodate recycling from either Fort Wainwright (FWW) or Eielson Air Force Base (EAFB).
    • FWW and EAFB are currently sending most of the materials which would otherwise be recycled to our landfill.
    • We will soon have to open another 16-acre section of our current landfill.
    • At the current rate of usage our entire landfill (not just the “next section”) will be consumed before 2070.
  • The current CRF was operated from 2017 to 2021 by the Fairbanks Rescue Mission (FRM) using primarily volunteers and participants in workforce training programs.
    • GSIA began operating the CRF in 2022 after a period of closure brought about by the FRM no longer bidding on the program.
  • At some point between 2017 and now, the FNSB acquired a used-but-operational horizontal baler.
    • If put into service, this bailer would greatly enhance the marketability of FNSB recyclables and allow the FNSB to receive recyclables from FWW and EAFB. It would also greatly enhance the capacity and efficiency of recycling operations.  As Valley Community Recycling (https://www.valleyrecyclingak.org/) put it about their move to this type of equipment, they can now measure “tons per hour rather than hours per ton”.
    • The original projected cost of horizontal baling equipment in the 2015 PDC report was over $300k in 2015 dollars. Actual cost to the borough for the used baler which FNSB now owns: Less than $10k.
    • The horizontal baler the FNSB owns will not fit in the current CRF.
  • In 2021 the Federal Government instituted a grant program called the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grant Program (SWIFR – https://www.epa.gov/infrastructure/solid-waste-infrastructure-recycling-grant-program) specifically for the development of exactly the type of facility the FNSB needs.
    • SWIFR grants come from a pool of $275MM to be distributed at $55MM per year from fiscal year 2022 – 2026 or until exhausted thereafter.
      • Mat-Su Borough received $3.6MM from this program (https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-09/Borough_of_Matanuska_Susitna_SWIFR.pdf)

On Feb 22nd FNSB Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) amended budget was approved by the borough assembly with the NEW CRF PROJECT INCLUDED IN CURRENT RATHER THAN BEYOND YEARS designation.

SO:  We are still in contention for a SWIFR grant to offset the cost.

• • • We are still interested in your thoughts, if you’d care to share them: