Anchorage, Alaska, breaks ground on new $114M transfer station

Anchorage, Alaska, is beginning work on a new central transfer station, giving the city more space to handle waste and recycling materials, reports the Anchorage Daily News.

The city expects the project to be completed in 2023, though Solid Waste Services (SWS) General Manager Mark Spafford tells the newspaper he will push to finish it in 2022.

The project, which will be funded by user fees, is expected to cost $114 million. To cover the costs, SWS is proposing an annual 5 percent increase for residential and commercial collections and a 6.5 percent increase for disposal at the transfer station through 2022. Those increases are subject to approval by the city’s Assembly.

The city’s current transfer station was originally built in 1975 and in recent years has necessitated frequent maintenance and repairs. By building a new transfer station, Spafford says the site can now handle recylable and compostable material, as well as bulk waste like mattresses.

With the ability to divert more of those materials from the landfill, the new facility is expected to add an estimated 20 years of life to the city’s 32-year-old landfill. SWS states that without the new station, the landfill would hit its capacity in 45 years.

According to the article, the new station also will allow for more separation between residential and commercial customers, making it safer.

“With a larger facility, we will be able to get people in and out quicker,” Spafford tells the Anchorage Daily News.