‘Tis the season for cleaning and discarding items collecting dust in the corners of our homes! Kawerak’s Environmental Program strives to create a direct flow for waste out of the Bering Strait region, where it has no place to go but the landfill. On June 5th and 6th, the Environmental Program hosted the annual E-Waste Event, providing a place for Nome residents and businesses to drop off old and broken computers, televisions, cell phones and other discarded electronics. With a great turnout and a steady stream of drop offs, this year’s event collected 4,000 pounds of e-waste for backhaul.
Since 2011, the Environmental Department has collected electronic waste region-wide, prioritizing backhaul to keep the waste from hitting regional landfills. E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams today. Electronic waste can contain mercury and arsenic, along with more than a thousand other harmful toxins that can leech into the ground and into waterways, impacting the health of the region’s environment and people.
Anahma Shannon, Kawerak’s Environmental Program Director said that the toxic chemical substances left by e-waste can cause terrible health-related issues impacting the brain, central nervous system, respiratory system, and neurological and endocrine systems. Toxins can affect communities in many ways, polluting the air we breathe, contaminating our drinking water, and bioaccumulating our subsistence resources.
“It’s important for us to be diligent about what we put into our landfill and recycling our e-waste is one way we can tackle this world-wide problem,” said Anahma.
Backhauling these items to the Lower 48 where they can be properly disposed of is essential to keeping our regional communities clean and healthy. Kawerak thanks partners Alaska Marine Lines and Bering Air for supporting this important initiative, providing backhaul services by air and barge. Bering Air has been onboard as a partner on this program since its inception in 2010, providing free backhaul for waste in the Bering Strait region communities.
Residents in our region can recycle any day of the year, not just during the E-Waste Event. Alongside e-waste, Kawerak also receives and recycles lead-acid batteries, household batteries, fluorescent tubes, aluminum cans, and other materials such as marine debris.
For more information about recycling and keeping our communities clean, email environment@kawerak.org or visit us online: www.kawerak.org/backhaul .
