One of Green Star’s four programs is Village Backhaul. Through it, we subsidize remote Interior communities’ recycling efforts and haul out their electronic waste for recycling. We have worked with 16 different Interior villages off the road system since the program started, pulling out 56,000 pounds of potentially toxic material since 2011. A vast majority of that material’s first transport leg is on a Ruby Marine barge.
Arriving at each village along with a forklift, and several loaders, the staff at Ruby have a sole focus each summer: provide the best possible fuel, freight, and backhaul service they can to Interior Alaska, a remote and challenging customer base. Based out of Nenana, Ruby Marine provides seasonal barge service to the communities along the Tanana, Koyukuk, Innoko, and Yukon Rivers from mid May until early October each year. Green Star relies on their regular schedule and dedication to serving Interior communities each year to get backhauled material from the village to Nenana, where Airland Transport picks it up to bring to our warehouse in Fairbanks. Matt Krezke, captain of the Tanana barge, likes the backhaul to be stackable and ready to go when they arrive – “the more the better!”. He and his staff frequently help palletize, but prefer the villages to be independent. “Honestly, hauling out old lead-acid vehicle batteries, mercury-filled fluorescent light tubes, and electronics are the easy part of our job. Vehicles are the real headache,” says the deeply sun-tanned captain.
Ruby Marine was founded 14 years ago by three siblings. The current owner recounted the first loan interview he had with his lender not going so well, saying, “I argued that our business would have zero net growth each year. We are just trying to provide a stable service to Interior Communities. One they can trust and rely on.”
As you can imagine, Ruby Marine has not been sheltered from the COVID pandemic. They have had to effectively quarantine their summer crew on the job site. There are even Nenana residents on his staff that can’t see their spouses in town after work. “Come August, I know we will have 13 crazy people in this camp.”
Adopting his conservative financial values, the owner of Ruby Marine has also been driving Ruby to be more self-reliant. He has independently installed a wind turbine, 25 kW of commercial pole-mounted solar and plans to purchase an electric vehicle once the prices drop. “I am hoping it will be like battery storage that’s fun to drive.”
Thanks, Ruby, for all you do for our Village Backhaul Program!