Become a member of Interior Alaska Green Star today!
We are grateful for the generous support from our sponsors and members of the community. Contributions like yours help Interior Alaska Green Star continue our educational and recycling programs.
E-waste is the fastest growing part of our waste stream. E-Recycling prevents toxic and dangerous materials from entering our landfills and allows for many of the components to be broken down and reused.
Even without a traditional recycling program in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Fairbanksans are recycling. Click the link below to download our list of where, and what, to recycle in Fairbanks.

Board of Directors

Dianne PorterDianne Porter
Board Member
Marketing & Communication Coordinator – Golden Valley Electric Association

Graduate school at UAF lured Dianne from Boston to Fairbanks in 1992. After a 10-day road trip with her dad and four cats, she arrived sight-unseen, with all her possessions packed in a 10-foot U-Haul. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from UAF and took a job with GVEA in 1995. Her areas of responsibility include the co-op’s internal and external communications, marketing co-op programs and overseeing board of director elections. She earned her Certified Cooperative Communicator status in 1998 and serves on the program’s board of directors. Dianne also serves as the superintendent for the Creative Writing Division at the Tanana Valley State Fair – an ambitious undertaking that she finds highly rewarding. An easy way to strike up a conversation with Dianne is to mention dogs, food, or books.

 
 

 

Pam Seiser

Pam Seiser
Board Member
Research Biologist – ABR, Inc.

Interior Alaska Green Star is a good fit for Pam, because she likes to talk trash. Her work as a Wildlife Biologist at ABR takes her to remote wildlands, where she sees firsthand how Alaska’s landscape changes when we harvest our natural resources. The funny thing is that the best method she finds to help protect the beauty of Alaska’s wild places is not by traveling to those areas, but by getting people to discuss their trash and garbage habits right here in Fairbanks. The less raw resources we consume, the less land we need to develop. At Interior Alaska Green Star, she can teach that examining our trash is the best proof of our efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle. When not at a recycling event, Pam is enjoying winter sports, art, and dogs (more reasons why Fairbanks is such a good fit for Pam).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bill Smyth

Bill Smyth
Board Secretary
Engineer – Division of Water, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

Bill has been involved with Interior Alaska Green Star for many years and has watched it struggle and grow to what it is today, an organization that promotes community-based recycling and stewardship of our resources. In 1977, Bill and his wife came to Alaska from Colorado and ended up in Fairbanks in 1981 to finish a degree in engineering at UAF. Upon completion of his degree, he began working for the Department of Environmental Conservation and is currently working as an engineer in the Division of Water. Bill has a love of the outdoors and enjoys fishing, hiking, and working on their remote cabin off the Stampede Trail.

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Carol Ann Varner

Carol Ann Varner
Board Treasurer
Tanana Valley League of Women Voters

Carol Ann’s husband Stu was in the military for twenty-four years, six months and one day – during which time they traveled extensively through forty-seven states, Mexico, Europe, Scandinavia, Great Britain and Canada, before finally finding a home in Alaska. While living on the east coast (1970-71) they experienced “brown outs” as a way of conserving electricity and saw the local landfill meeting its capacity years before it was intended. When they moved to Minnesota (1971-72) and saw the very same thing happening on a smaller scale, it was clear to Carol Ann that she wanted to make a lifelong commitment to encourage her community – no matter where that was – to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The opportunity to observe how we treat or mistreat the environment has inspired her to work toward minimizing her own imprint on this earth and inspiring others to do the same. IAGS has provided her with the opportunity to exercise her commitment, as well as connecting her with the young at heart. When not helping to direct the IAGS board, Carol Ann spends much of her time singing with Sweet Adelines, volunteering with the League of Women Voters, and operating the North Star Bed and Breakfast in North Pole.

 
 

Darcie Warden

Darcie Warden
Board President
BLM Alaska Outreach Coordinator – Alaska Wilderness League

Darcie Warden grew up in northern California. She discovered the need to recycle and conserve resources at an early age, and it continues to be her inspiration as the President of Interior Alaska Green Star. In 2001, Darcie moved to Galena to work for the Louden Tribal Council as an Environmental Technician. During that time, she learned much about “bush” and “remote” communities and the challenges they face with solid waste management, let alone recycling. Now in Fairbanks, Darcie is thrilled to work towards recycling in the Interior, as well as in bush communities when the opportunities present themselves.

 
 

 

David Weissman

David Weissman
Board Vice President
Surveyor – Design Alaska, Inc.

David and his wife Ellen spent 3 months driving to Alaska in 2008, only to discover there was little in the way of recycling. After just one volunteer experience, he joined the board with the goal of expanding the role of Interior Alaska Green Star in the community. His primary responsibilities on the board are fundraising and public speaking. Give him an audience and he’ll talk like a wind-up toy on the virtues – both economically and environmentally – of electronic recycling. His day is occupied as a land surveyor and project manager at Design Alaska, Inc. He introduced recycling to Design Alaska and within 3 months, they reduced the amount of waste going to the landfill by 33%. He is also on the FNSB Recycling Commission, working hard to reduce the municipal waste stream into the landfill from every corner of the Borough. When not thinking about recycling he curls in the winter, canoes in the summer, and walks his dog, Fred.

   
 
 
 
 
 

 

Staff

Andrea Miller

Andrea Miller
Executive Director
email Andrea

Andrea was grew up in Michigan, in a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan. She obtained a Psychology degree from Kalamazoo College and a Master’s in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Michigan. In 1999, she began working in Information Technology with an entry-level computer support job. Over the next 10 years, she worked her way up to the position of Project Manager in a hospital IT department. She moved to Alaska in 2007 and quickly got involved in the Fairbanks recycling scene – mostly by realizing there were very few opportunities for recycling in town. She joined the FNSB Recycling Task Force in December 2007, where she met Pam Seiser and was recruited as a volunteer for an IAGS Electronics Recycling Event. Volunteering led to a spot on the Board of Directors, and in October 2009 she became the Executive Director of IAGS. Andrea is thrilled to be working on projects to help the local community become more sustainable. She believes that “Think Global, Act Local” is the best way for her to have an impact on preserving our natural resources for future generations. When not helping people with their recycling questions, she can usually be found reading, knitting, hanging out with her partner and their two dogs, or supporting her favorite local sports team – the Fairbanks Rollergirls.