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The Solid Waste and Recycling Advisory Committee began its second year in January 2007. The major work of the Committee during the spring of 2007 was an effort to start a significant recycling program in all the public schools. It was decided to begin with the Chenery Middle School, largely because two teachers in that school had indicated their interest and willingness to help. The Committee realized that it is essential to the success of a school program that staff and/or parents at the school be involved.
After members of the Committee meet with the custodian and twice observed the lunchroom behavior at the Chenery, a pilot recycling program was instituted in May 2007 with emphasis on the lunchroom. A movie was shown in all the classrooms, students made posters to raise awareness and teachers were trained in how to instruct students to recycle. 90 gallon recycling toters were placed in the lunchroom. During the six-week pilot period, recycling pickup was made every week (instead of every other week); in order to meet the volume of recycling materials gathered. F W Russell Disposal (the Town trash and recycling hauler) agreed to do the weekly pickup free of extra charge to support the pilot program.
Building on the success of the Chenery pilot program, the Committee decided to launch a recycling program in as many schools as possible in the fall of 2007. F W Russell Disposal agreed to pick up recycling materials every week at all of the schools for $6,000 ($1,000 per school per year, prorated depending on the actual need for weekly pickup). On September 10, 2007, representatives of the Committee met with the Board of Selectmen to request the $6,000 needed to institute the weekly collection of recycling materials. The Selectmen's decision was that the $6,000 should come from the School Department's budget.
The Committee met with Gerry Missal, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance in the School Department on October 29, 2007. Mr. Missal agreed that he would cover whatever portion of the $6,000 would be needed for weekly pickup at any school involved in the recycling program. It was anticipated that the entire amount would not be needed the first year because it would take some time for all the schools to join the program.
The status of recycling in the public schools at the end of 2007 is as follows:
The Chenery Middle School: paper from all classrooms, cardboard, beverage containers and almost all recyclable materials from the kitchen, i.e. aluminum, glass, tin, and plastics are recycled.
- Winn Brook, Burbank, Butler, and Wellington: paper from each classroom. These schools expect to include all other materials noted in the Chenery collection by spring 2008.
- High School: preliminary work has been started. Because of the difference in the population at the high school, the issues are more complex. The Committee anticipates that significant recycling in this school will be in place during 2008.
The Committee and the Town owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Deborah Lockett who has been and continues to be the lead person on the Committee in the school recycling effort.
The Committee next turned to the issue of collecting recycled corrugated cardboard, as well as coated paper cartons (milk cartons) and aseptic containers (juice boxes). The State mandates that corrugated cardboard be recycled; however when the current contract was negotiated, corrugated cardboard was not included, due to the extra cost. When Peter Castanino, Director of the Department of Public Works, at the Committee's request, talked to Kevin Douglas at Russell, Mr. Douglas proposed that his firm would collect corrugated cardboard for either an extra $20,000 per year or for an extension of the current contract for two additional years, through FY2011 at a 3 % increase per year. Representatives of the Committee met with the Board of Selectmen on December 3, 2007 to recommend the addition of corrugated cardboard to the
materials collected for recycling. The Committee collected considerable data from the town on recycling trends and costs. Every ton of waste recycled instead of incinerated saves $69.50 in disposal fees; based on US EPA survey figures, Belmont discards an estimated 1800 tons of corrugated cardboard each year. The Committee evaluated these estimates against recovery rates in other towns to help guide our recommendation. The Board was in favor of the contract extension, with the proviso that some research be done to ascertain that the proposed fee increase would not be out of line with contracts in other municipalities. Once this proviso was met, F W Russell Disposal was instructed to start collecting recycled corrugated cardboard in time for the 2007 holiday rush. We expect the diversion of corrugated cardboard from the waste stream to save the Town tens of thousands of dollars in disposal costs.
The Committee, through Peter Castanino, applied to the State Department of Environmental Protection for a Technical Assistance Grant to help the Town reduce its tonnage of solid waste by increasing the volume of materials recycled. The grant, which gives the Town 80 hours of assistance from Carolyn Dann, Regional Recycling and Municipal Assistance Coordinator, was awarded in the late fall of 2007. The Committee looks forward to very productive work with Ms. Dann during 2008, particularly in the area of public education concerning the addition of corrugated cardboard to the recycling materials to be collected. With the help of Ms. Dann's considerable experience in working with many municipalities throughout the Commonwealth, we are very hopeful that the town will experience a significant drop in waste tonnage in
2008.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Tinkham, Chairman
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