The Backhaul Alaska Program (BAP) is a statewide backhaul program developed and overseen by the Solid Waste Alaska Taskforce (SWAT). The Solid Waste Alaska Taskforce (SWAT) serves as the BAP executive committee and is comprised of representatives from AK DEC Solid Waste Program, ANTHC, Kawerak, Region 10 Tribal Operations Committee Consortium, and Zender Environmental. The ultimate goal of the Program is to establish a statewide backhaul framework allowing all Alaskan communities to efficiently and affordably backhaul harmful and potentially hazardous waste streams. Currently, the Program assists with rural communities’ backhaul activities by providing training, supplies, technical & logistics support, onsite assistance, and sponsoring shipping & recycling services.
The BAP Pilot Program was conducted in 2 phases spanning 2018-2021. Following the 4-year pilot phase, 2022-2024 were the first 3 years of the Program’s “Initial Implementation” phase. A detailed summary of Program efforts during the pilot phase and subsequent initial implementation years can be found in BAP’s 2022-2024 Annual Reports, respectively.
For 2025, the Program looked to build off the progress made in “hub & spoke” development, enroll additional communities, and continue the regional collection events. As performed in previous years, BAP looked to continue providing training opportunities, supplies, and technical assistance to rural AK communities looking to backhaul hard-to-manage materials such as e-scrap, lead acid batteries, and Universal Waste lamps.