ANCHORAGE — Beachcombing is serious business for Chris Pallister, and he needed help sorting the haul this year.
Pallister is president of the Gulf of Alaska Keeper, which annually helps clean marine debris off Alaska beaches.
This year, the group cleaned 10 miles of shoreline on two islands south of Anchorage. The effort netted about 200 tons of trash like plastic water bottles and commercial fishing gear. And workers continue to find debris like refrigerators and building material from the 2011 Japanese tsunami.
The group is working with Parley for the Oceans, an advocacy group which plans to recycle some of the material.
Pallister said anywhere between 60 percent to 80 percent of the material will be recycled this year, and that’s being sorted this week in Anchorage.
All the debris collected last year wound up in a landfill because of permitting issues when it arrived in Seattle.
