Kotlik project works to clean up and reduce marine waste

Aubrey Taradash and Tom Moran contributed to this story.

An old tarp or battery is generally not considered a prize haul. But such was the case in Kotlik, where a team scoured the Kotlik River and nearby tundra to remove a massive amount of marine debris that had posed a risk to public health and local food sources.

The effort was supported by Alaska Sea Grant’s Alaska Center for Marine Debris and overseen by the Anchorage-based nonprofit Zender Environmental Health and Research Group, who trained a team of community members to do the work. Led by Victor Tonuchuk Jr., Kotlik’s environmental director, the work crew retrieved old oil drums, tarps, scrap metal, outboard motors, fishing nets, boat batteries and more, ultimately producing enough junk to fill more than four 20-foot Conex shipping containers.

Much of the debris was stuck in thick river silt and challenging to extract, but Tonuchuk said the team stayed motivated by the prospect of making Kotlik cleaner and safer. “When I watched the guys lifting heavy objects… I was amazed how well they were working together, helping each other,” he said. He also said the village has taken notice of the efforts. “A lot of [people] were happy and grateful, pleased to see what was going on.”

After weighing and sorting, the haul will be shipped south to Seattle, with some materials recycled and others put in a protective lined landfill. 

The debris removal is only part of a multifaceted project to address trash concerns in Kotlik, a roughly 650-person Yup’ik village located on the bank of the Kotlik River near its mouth on Norton Sound. The community faces multiple waste management challenges: the village’s landfill is also located on the riverbank, where the lack of a protective lining allows erosion to carry debris and hazardous waste into the waterway. The landfill is only reachable by boat or snowmachine, making it challenging to safely dispose of garbage. In addition, storms can bring in debris from the Bering Sea, with tidal flooding and strong winds scattering litter across the land and waterways that Kotlik depends on for subsistence. While Kotlik has sought to stem the waste stream through recycling, backhauling and small-scale cleanups, debris continues to accumulate. 

In addition to the cleanup effort, the project is working to address the local waste problem by raising awareness about marine debris management and prevention, and by taking steps to improve Kotlik’s waste management infrastructure. 

Zender Group assisted a community campaign to develop and install better signage around the landfill perimeter, where residents often choose to dump trash to avoid risking injury at the open waste site. The signs use the village’s traditional values of environmental stewardship to encourage residents to unload waste at designated sites rather than in subsistence areas. Another outreach element of the project involves students in the Kotlik School’s film class, who are producing a documentary about Kotlik’s debris struggles and the cleanup efforts.

The final portion of the project entails improvements to the city’s solid waste infrastructure. The crew installed DuraDeck ground protection mats around the landfill to improve access and safety during times of year when the tundra at the landfill site is not stable enough for heavy equipment.

Ideally, Kotlik aims to establish a new landfill at a more accessible site safe from river erosion, but that option currently isn’t economically feasible. Kotlik and Zender Group are instead focusing on building local capacity to safely manage the landfill and remove debris on a regular basis. Tonuchuk said the successful project has empowered the village to do just that.

“I feel comfortable handling future work like this,” Tonuchuk said. “I’ve done similar cleanups, but this was the biggest, so I gained some experience and knowledge.”

The project is one of 13 supported in the last two years as part of Alaska Sea Grant’s Community-Led Marine Debris Removal program, funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program. Zender Group is using lessons learned in Kotlik to inform another project they are undertaking through the program, this one located in the village of Nightmute.