Talkeetna Recycling Receives MEA Grant for Cardboard Program

Cardboard recycling in the Upper Valley is one step closer to becoming a reality. At Monday night’s meeting of the Talkeetna Community Council, Inc. board of directors, recycling committee chair Katie Writer announced that the program has received a grant of $10,000 from Matanuska Electric Association’s Operation Roundup program. Each year, MEA gives members an option to round their bills up to the nearest dollar. Then, MEA distributes that money to individuals and organizations through a grant process.

Katie Writer says the grant is enough to put a deposit on a cardboard baler. Additional funds are needed for construction of a shelter for the baler and the cardboard to protect them from the elements. Once fundraising is completed, Moore’s Hardware has agreed to donate labor, house the baler and the cardboard, and transport the cardboard bales.

Talkeetna’s current recycling program through the Mat-Su Borough’s transfer site, is aimed at saving the borough money in the long run by reducing what goes into the landfill. The cardboard recycling project would do the same thing, but it is also possible to sell bales of cardboard to recyclers. Katie Writer hopes that money would be enough to pay someone to oversee the baler and maintain the program into the future.

Also at the meeting, Writer announced that locations have been selected for three of the four bear-proof recycling containers that will go Downtown. The containers were donated by the National Park Service. One container will reside at the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station, one at the Village Park, and the third at the campground on Main Street. Sassan Mosannen, general manager of Denali Brewing Company, expressed interest in housing the fourth container, but no final determination has been made.