Area residents who’ve stockpiled their recyclables over the past week will finally be able to haul them over to the borough’s Central Recycling Facility, which just reopened.“It’s going to be open to everybody, starting today at noon,” Fairbanks North Star Borough Recycling Manager Sean Huntington said in a Wednesday morning interview.
Huntington says he expects workers at the facility will be busy for the next day or two days helping process all those accumulated materials. That’s what’s happened after the first two-month closure earlier this year -- and to a lesser extent, the last three times the borough closed the facility -- as a precaution to limit the spread of coronavirus.
“I anticipate people have been holding on to their stuff, like they have been doing the previous times we’ve had to close for a positive case,” he said.
The borough closed the Central Recycling Facility a week ago because one of the contract workers tested positive for exposure to the coronavirus. Huntington says the facility been deep-cleaned and made safe for workers and the public. And he says it’ll operate under precautions that include social-distancing, facemasks and customers unloading their own recyclables.
“We’re trying to maintain our 6 feet,” he said, “so customers are actually encouraged to do all the getting the materials out of their vehicles themselves and putting them it in the appropriate bin.”
To speed the process along, Huntington says customers should ensure they’re bringing only accepted materials, like numbers 1 and 2 plastic bottles and jugs, as well as paper and cardboard and aluminum drink cans and worn-out electronics. And he says they should all be rinsed clean.
The Central Recycling Facility will be open noon to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
The phone number is (907) 459-1332.
