by Sarah Kuta
Last updated: 4:10 PM ET, Wed January 31, 2024
Cruise lines have slashed the amount of trash they’re sending to the dying landfill in Juneau, Alaska, reports KTOO.
During the 2023 Alaska cruise season, cruise lines contributed roughly 250,000 pounds of garbage to the city’s privately managed landfill—a more than 90 percent reduction from the 3.3 million pounds they dumped in 2019.
For context, the landfill takes in 100 tons, or roughly 220,000 pounds, of trash every day, meaning the entire 2023 cruise season produced roughly one day’s worth of garbage. In 2019, cruise ship garbage represented about 16 days’ worth of trash.
Instead of dumping their garbage in Juneau, cruise ships are now likely taking it to embarkation ports like Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria.
City and tourism leaders have been working with cruise lines to reduce the amount of trash they leave behind—even as the number of tourists who visit Juneau via cruise ships continues to increase. More specifically, cruise lines agreed to limit the amount of oversized, bulky items they sent to the landfill, like mattresses and furniture,
Juneau’s landfill likely has just 20 years left in its lifespan, so every little bit helps.
Waste management has long been an issue in Juneau, thanks to its remote location and geography. The only way to reach Alaska’s capital city is by plane or boat, and it’s surrounded by glaciers and islands.
“What we’re doing is exciting, and it takes a lot of collaboration and coordination, but we’re making real change in our community,” says Alix Pierce, Juneau’s tourism manager, to KTOO.
The first cruise ship of the upcoming season will arrive in Juneau in early April. This year, the city and cruise lines have agreed to cap the number of large vessels in port each day to just five.
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