Backhaul Alaska Needs You!

Backhaul Alaska is a new way of handling an enormous problem. As Alaskans, when we band together, we are able to overcome extreme challenges. Whether you have business in, or with, rural Alaska, or are an individual with resources that can help, Backhaul Alaska will work best if we all do our part. Is your agency, organization, or business interested in becoming a partner, or are you interested in volunteering your services?

Alaska Native Corporation (ANC)

Together, we can equip our communities to turn harmful waste into good. Backhaul Alaska relies on partnerships to coordinate and fund local backhaul efforts. Get in touch with Dr. Lynn Zender, Backhaul Alaska Program Administrator, to learn about Backhaul Alaska and community needs in your region.

Business or organization

Backhaul Alaska believes in communities. We provide training, supplies, and logistics assistance directly to remove harmful waste from our lands. Learn more about how you can partner with Backhaul Alaska to support safe and necessary waste removal.

Individual or volunteer

You have the power to get harmful waste out of your community! Backhaul Alaska trains and equips individuals to operate a safe community backhauling program. Contact us today to start a program in your village.

Let’s get connected

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Want to talk to us directly?

Lynn Zender:
lzender@zendergroup.org
OR
info@backhaulalaska.org

What is Backhaul Alaska?

Backhaul Alaska coordinates the hauling of harmful waste and materials out of rural Alaska communities and, by ensuring responsible recycling, provides a value chain return service to the World’s Circular Economy. To help support the Program, an expanded role as a waste service for agencies, businesses, and development projects doing business in rural Alaska is planned, as is a collection and transport service for Product Stewardship initiatives.

Why is Backhaul Alaska Needed?

There is no safe way to discard harmful wastes in rural Alaska, and backhauling is expensive and logistically difficult. A well-coordinated statewide backhaul program will reduce risks to health and the environment, stretch rural Alaska’s limited dollar, and protect subsistence resources.

Upcoming Events

Backhaul Alaska trainings are carried out throughout the year. These trainings are necessary for ensuring safe and effective waste removal. Click below to find the next training event.

Did You Know?

When landfill wastes degrade or are burned, many chemicals are released, some of which are toxic to us and our subsistence resources. Unlike elsewhere in the United States, rural Alaska landfulls are not designed to encase or treat these chemicals. Harmful contaminants can enter the local environment and, because most landfills are close to town, residents can breathe toxic smoke. To be safe, hazardous wastes must be hauled out by barge or plane.

How Does the Program Work?

Backhaul Alaska backhauls waste more cheaply and efficiently because:

  • Each region has a single point of contact for their communities
  • Each community is trained in uniform protocols and receives on-site assistance
  • Each community is provided minimum staging infrastructure and safety supplies
  • Efforts to reduce, reuse, and refuse spent materials are encouraged
  • A “control tower” optimizes material transport and price brokering
  • Transporters and recyclers spend less time and incur less liability risk

Backhaul Alaska can provide a reverse supply chain service for any entity generating or purchasing waste materials in rural Alaska, with the proceeds supporting the program.

Removing harmful waste, one step at a time.