Anchorage Nixes Curbside Program

An 18-month-old pilot curbside recycling program in West Anchorage, Ala., will end in January because it has not generated profit, according to a report in the Anchorage Daily News.

Kirk W. Duncan, general manager of Waste Management of Alaska Inc., a subsidiary of Waste Management Inc., Houston, the company that runs the program, tells the paper that the twice a month pickup of recyclable paper, cardboard and newsprint simply did not generate enough participation to make the operation profitable.

The suspension of the program is indefinite, and the last collections will be made Jan. 27.

Some residents expressed disappointment at the decision.

“Ending it is a huge step backwards for our community,” Sara Peebles, a co-founder of the volunteer-run Turnagain Curbside Recycling Program, tells the paper.

The decision to cancel the program comes in the wake of an announcement made three weeks ago about a proposed purchase of Waste Management of Alaska by Alaska Pacific Environmental Services, Juneau, Ala., the Anchorage Daily News reports.