Haines Friends of Recycling board members will meet early next year to consider the future of a “Re-Store Sale,” an effort to sell used materials locally instead of sending them south for recycling.
The local non-profit tried a one-day sale April 18 this year, but didn’t see great turnout, said chair Melissa Aronson.
“We want to see if we can sell things like used construction materials: used lumber or 10 feet of copper pipe, things people don’t want to take back to the hardware store. People drop off a lot of stuff that other people might want,” Aronson said.
Aronson herself uses tubs from broken washing machines as raised garden beds. “They’re perfect.” Re-using items is preferable to recycling, eliminating costs of shipping and rendering, she said. “It’s best to keep something functioning.”
But the logistics of operating a store, including staffing and making space, are hurdles, Aronson said. “It’s a question of how much we want to do. We’re doing the best we can right now with the volunteers we have.”
Aronson spoke as follow-up to the 17-year-old group’s annual meeting Oct. 9. Besides maintaining a 24-7 recycling drop-off site, group events included Earth Day, its’ first fish-net recycling effort in cooperation with Chilkoot Indian Association, electronic recycling day, a scrap metal collection, and cleanup or recycling efforts at the Kluane bike race, July 4 festivities, and Southeast Alaska State Fair.
The group has 261 members, $27,789 in savings and collected more than 225,000 pounds of recyclables in the past year, she said. Goals for 2016 will be set at a February board meeting.
Molly Sturdevant and Mike Borcik were elected to the group’s board. Volunteers are needed during winter months to help haul from collection sites around town to its headquarters on Small Tracts Road.
Contact Aronson at 766-2185 for more information or go to http://www.hainesrecycle.org.