Today is Earth Day

On Earth Day, as individuals, businesses, and governments reflect on ways to protect the planet and create a healthier future, here are some helpful City and Borough of Juneau services:

• CBJ’s Recycle Center: Bring plastics (#1 and #2 only), glass, aluminum, tin cans, mixed paper, and cardboard to CBJ’s Recycle Center on Tuesday – Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 5600 Tonsgard Court. Visit juneaurecycling.com for more details. Last year, the program recycled over 596 tons of cardboard, 364 tons of mixed paper, 45 tons of plastic, and 17 tons of aluminum cans.
• Junk Vehicle Program: CBJ, in partnership with Skookum Recycling, runs a junk vehicle program that allows Juneau residents to dispose of vehicles at no cost to the individual. Coming up, CBJ will tow up to 50 junk vehicles from people’s properties for free as part of its junk vehicle roundup.
• Capital Transit: Riding Juneau’s public transportation system versus driving your own petroleum-powered vehicle reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Capital Transit currently has one electric bus in its fleet that, in a typical week, saves 150 gallons of fuel versus a diesel bus. Capital Transit also has three electric vehicles for administrative use. Bus schedules can be found at juneaucapitaltransit.org.

Aside from offering these public services, the Juneau Assembly has established a goal to maintain a resilient social, economic, and environmental habitat for existing and future generations. These actions work toward this effort:

• Energy Management and Information System: CBJ will implement an Energy Management and Information System to monitor, analyze, and control building energy use and system performance. This will help reduce energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions, and costs. For CBJ buildings, this could equate to more than $75,000 in annual energy savings, or – another way to look at it – the potential to save 22,481 gallons of fuel and 791,000 kwh in electricity.
• Annual Sustainability Report: During the past year, the Engineering & Public Works Department issued its inaugural sustainability report. Due to energy improvements implemented at the Juneau Police Station and Downtown Library, CBJ expects to save over 5,000 gallons of fuel annually. CBJ continues to move forward with energy efficiency projects throughout the organization and is moving towards installing additional electric vehicle charging stations.

For information on Earth Day, go to epa.gov/earthday.