Reducing the Trash Fee With Single-Stream Recycling
Single-Stream Recycling: Over the next couple of months you will be hearing a lot more about this. The Selectmen, in an effort to reduce the trash fee, has set a goal for the town of Stoneham to recycle 50 percent of our trash. The first step of this process is education. Most people are asking what is single stream recycling, and how does it save me money? Let's start with the basics.
What is single-stream recycling? Single stream recycling means no more sorting! With single stream, or "zero-sort" recycling, residents can mix clean bottles, cans, papers and cardboard together in the same recycling bin. This means that you can designate one of your current trash containers as a recycling container and place all of your recyclables in one place. Stickers to place on your recyclable container are available at the DPW located at 16 Pine St. For additional information, call 781-438-0760.
How does this save me money? The town of Stoneham pays what’s called a tipping fee to the waste management company for every ton of trash that goes into the incinerator. Currently, that number is $64 per ton; however, there is no charge for recyclables. This year we budgeted for 9,500 tons of trash to be incinerated at a cost of $608,000 per year in tipping fees, currently we are on pace for only 8,000 tons of trash due to increased recycling. If we can get that number down to 4,000 tons the town would save $304,000 and that money will go directly back to the residents in the form of a trash fee reduction of about $60 per household.
What can I place in this container?
- Newspapers, magazines, catalogs
- Telephone/soft cover books
- Junk mail/envelopes (all types)
- Paper (all colors, staples/paperclips are okay)
- Paperboard (cereal/shoe boxes)
- Milk/juice cartons
- Cardboard/brown paper bags
- Plastic food & beverage containers marked #1-7
- Soda/juice/water bottles (glass or plastic)
- Milk jugs, bleach/detergent, shampoo bottles
- Food containers (cottage cheese/margarine/yogurt)
- Glass bottles/jars (any color)
- Aluminum (pie plates/trays/foil)
- Metal cans (tin/steel/aluminum)
- Rigid plastic (laundry baskets/ buckets)
What is unacceptable?
- No plastic bags (or recyclables in plastic bags)
- No unmarked plastics (chairs/toys)
- No windows/light bulbs
- No dishes, no Pyrex, no ceramics
- No foam packaging, no styrofoam
- No aerosol cans (paint/hairspray/cleaners)
- No recyclables containing food waste
I have been experimenting with this for the last three months and have found it to be incredibly easy. I went as far as purchasing a 50-gallon blue recycling container on wheels and have reduced my trash by more than 50 percent, and it also takes up a lot less room in the garage. Some other things to consider when deciding what to put out for the trash pickup:
- Clothing is not recyclable, but there is a Goodwill bin in the back of Town Hall, and someone that could make good use of your gently worn clothing could benefit from this while keeping our trash tonnage down.
- Furniture: There are many charities that are always looking for good used furniture and most will pick it up at your house, such as the Mission of Deeds and Goodwill. Again, this will significantly help keep the trash fee down as well as helping out someone in need. So, let’s stop throwing our money away and start recycling the easy way.
Ted T.
2:52 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
A lot of styrofoam packaging (takeout trays, etc) is now stamped as recyclable. Will those no longer be acceptable?
Also, the article states, "The town of Stoneham pays what’s called a tipping fee to the waste management company for every ton of trash that goes into the incinerator. Currently, that number is $64 per ton; however, there is no charge for recyclables."
As written, this implies the recyclables are simply incinerated alonside the trash instead of being sorted and recycled into new items. Is this true, or are they actually recycled?
As is, I currently recycle ~50% more stuff than I trash most weeks.
Thanks!
Tom Boussy
3:46 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
Ted T
Sorry for the confusion, the recycling trucks go to a sorting center where it is mechanically and manually sorted and resold to companies that will recycle them into new products. As far as the Styrofoam is concerned I obtained that information from Hilts Disposal’s website (our current waste management company) www.hiltzdisposal.com/SingleStream.cfm I will look into whether or not Styrofoam packaging marked recyclable can be placed in the container. I was surprised to learn that plastic bags marked recyclable are not allowed, so there is certainly much more education needed and I hope that in the next couple of months we can clarify what exactly can be recycled.
Ted T.
4:36 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
Thanks, Tom!
I assumed as much, but wanted to confirm. There are recycling companies throughout the country that incinerate up to 50% of the recyclables they receive. The article I read that in was a few years old, so perhaps/hopefully, they've changed.
I read an interesting article about plastic bags earlier this year that surprised me.. I was under the impression they got recycled with the rest of the various plastics, but they don't. Most of the plastic recycling shredders in use weren't designed to handle bags (shopping bags are the worst) and get jammed once too many have been fed in. They get manually separated and sent to landfills, where they hang around in perpetuity or blow away, often into nearby oceans and bays, where marine animals mistake them for food and choke to death or die slowly becuase the bags get lodged in their digestive systems.
Thanks also for looking into the styrofoam. In the meantime, I'll keep putting them in the recycle barrel until I hear otherwise, or they're refused by the driver.
I believe we're neighbors, btw--I live in the red house down the street from (what used to be) the Kilgore's house.
Raymie Parker
6:32 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
Should we start buying blue barrels? Does the waste department already know about the blue barrels? Can the town purchase these barrels at a discount, and sell to residents? I'm for recycling!
Tom Boussy
8:03 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
Raymie
Yes you can buy the blue barrels, I got a 50 gallon barrel at home depot, and they cost about $50 or $60. The trucks are equipped for it, the barrel has a handle and the truck has an arm that picks up the barrel up and dumps it in the truck. It does make recycling easer because the lid flips back so items are not falling out and there in no more be bending over to place recyclables into the little blue bin. The wheels also make it a breeze to bring it to curbside. We are looking into buying the barrels, but like everything else they cost money, somewhere between $350,000 and $500,000 town wide. If we get a high compliance rate then it’s possible that the town will invest in them. In the meantime I will look into your suggestion that the town purchases barrels in bulk and sell to residents at a for a better rate.
Scott Lennox
7:04 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
I am all for it! But what about mailing out a Recycle Sticker to each household or having available at a local business(Rounds) Maybe get the Independent involved and have them put in the paper for all subscribers. This makes it even easier for people. For working people, getting to the DPW in their hours of business is difficult. Also, my neighbor tried to pick one up for me and he was told he could only have one.
Tom Boussy
9:17 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
Scott
Let me first say that I am shocked that the DPW would not let your neighbor grab a sticker for you. I will make a call tomorrow to rectify that. Your idea about local businesses like Rounds having stickers available at their counters is excellent; I will reach out to them. Now that you mention it, I will see about having stickers at Town Hall its open late on Tuesday’s (I’ll see if I can get some there tomorrow for the election) as well as the library and the Recycling Center on Stevens Street (open Saturdays) and any other local department such as the skating rink that may be more convenient for working residents. We are sending out a flyer to residents probably next week announcing Single-Stream Recycling, I have sent this blog to the Independent and I’m hoping it runs this week. I have a meeting tomorrow about updating the town’s website and (hope your sitting down for this) starting a Town Facebook page to help keep residents better informed. We are also planning on putting recycling containers in square as well as posters to be placed in public lobbies. Once we raise public awareness we are planning on sending the stickers in you water bill (with your trash fee) so that people will know what to do with them. In the meantime, you can spray paint RECYCLING on any barrel and the recycling truck should have no problem picking it up as long as it does not weigh more than 50LB’s.
Angelika
8:10 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
Tom, do you know if there is a chance that the recycling could be picked up every week? With biweekly recycling we fill up 2 50-gallon bins (and one 50-gallon per week normal trash). I'd love to recycle more, but we are running out of space for garbage cans :-)
Tom Boussy
9:32 pm on Monday, November 5, 2012
Angelika
I agree with you but I think that is phase two, I believe if we get a high compliance rate, when we negotiate a new contract with the waste management company we will reassess our trash pickup needs. I would like to think that if we are reducing our trash from 9,500 tons to around 4,000 tons then it’s quite possible that we don’t need two trash trucks on Wednesday and two more on Thursday plus the recycling trucks every other week. It is possible we could have a combination of the two every week instead.
Tom Boussy
7:29 am on Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Get out and vote today, and pick up a recycling sticker as well. They should be available at town hall during the election