Petersburg ships most of its trash to Washington; its unlined landfill is up for renewal

Most of Petersburg's household trash doesn't stay in Petersburg. It is baled and shipped to a landfill in Washington state.

What's left goes into an unlined landfill on Mitkof Island, next to a facility that composts the borough's sewage sludge. The state is renewing the permit covering both on five-year terms, and residents have until Sept. 21 to comment.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation posted the notice Aug. 13. The landfill is a Class III site, a category that takes less than five tons of waste a day and does not require a liner. The borough's filing says a groundwater assessment was done and the department approved a waiver of groundwater monitoring. The two facilities serve 3,394 residents.