In 2013 The Municipality of Skagway published an audit of its waste management which detailed that about a third of the trash collected was recyclable, a third was garbage, and a third was compostable.  Plans for eliminating some of the excess waste from the incinerator system by composting began taking shape in 2016.  After multiple delays and budget overruns, the project is finally open to the public, albeit in a soft-opening phase.

The composter is about the size of the payload of a semi-truck located in a large warehouse building directly across from the entrance to the Dyea Road.  For now, individuals can offload their compostables into a front loader which in turn dumps its payload into the first chamber of the system. 

The state-of-the-art composting system was designed to handle the massive influx of food waste during a busy cruise ship season in Skagway, but without one of those on the calendar for the immediate future, it is operating on a smaller scale.

Solid Waste Committee Chairperson Annemarie Hasskamp walked me through some of the items Skagwegians can eliminate from their garbage and add to their composting bucket.

The nice thing about the big composter is that we can compost things like fish bones and small animal bones and animal meat and small amounts of fat. So it is kind of an advantage over home composting because you can actually break down things that wouldn’t normally break down in your own home compost,” said Hasskamp.

Hasskamp says any bones bigger around than a pinkie should be put in the household trash.  Coffee grounds and paper filters are okay, but tea bags are not.

Teabags. That’s kind of a tricky one. Tea leaves are totally compostable. But some of the tea bags that are in use have thermoplastic fibers in them. So we don’t want the plastic going into the compost.”

Pizza boxes, even the greasy ones are fine unless they have a plastic coating, to-go containers that are labeled compostable are acceptable, as are most household food scraps.

We take all vegetables and fruits just make sure you get your stickers off of them all those little tiny stickers that come attached aren’t all compostable,” said Hasskamp.

Some animal waste is acceptable, as long as they are mostly herbivores like horses or chickens, but dog and cat waste is a no-go.  Hasskamp suggests anything that contains any chemicals, pathogens, or wax coatings should be left out.

The composter is open on Thursdays from 10 till noon and Sundays from noon till three.  At the next Solid Waste Advisory Board meeting on April 12th, there is only one item on the agenda, and that’s the composter’s grand opening.  

So, for now, it’s still in the soft opening phase, but definitely worth a visit.  While you’re there you might just score a free compost bucket with a lid, a sticker, and a magnet.  A full list of compostable items is available here.