Aluminum Recycling

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            We use a lot of aluminum cans in Saint Mary’s and have no place to put them except the landfill. Saint Mary’s is located on the Yukon River in western Alaska. There are no roads going in or out of Saint Mary’s. The only way to get here is by plane or barge. Past aluminum recycling programs have not been very successful because the empty aluminum cans take up too much space on the barge. The hand crushers here in town squirt a lot of spit and liquid when the cans are crushed, there fore students do not like to use them.

            Recycling a lot of cans at once will take up less room and eliminate the usage of plastic bags making the land cleaner. We are working with the local tribal government to purchase a can crusher/baler. We might get a grant from Nickelodeon, for entering the “Big Green Award” contest. We will also be working with the city to find other grants to help us. We are hoping we can raise enough money so we can get a can crusher/baler before school gets out. The estimated cost including shipping is $11,350.

            With the can crusher/baler we can eventually have all the cans that come into town crushed, baled and sent back to be recycled. The money from recycling will go back into our Saint Mary’s environmental science program. With the money that goes into our science program we can to do more things. This award will help our local community and help us preserve our traditional Native lands by keeping them empty of aluminum cans.