Watershed partnership keeps us on WATD

     Wendy Garpow and Samantha Woods from the North and South River Watershed Ass'n (NSRWA) joined the Board at its May meeting.  The NSRWA does outreach that overlaps with SSRC’s, both in geography and theme. Their Green-scapes program promotes landscaping methods  that require less water, fewer chemicals and encourage composting.  They mailed 70,000 Greenscapes Guides this past April, which includes info about our municipal compost bins and HHP collec-tions.  The mailing has resulted in a lot of signups for their 6 workshop series, and positive feedback from vendors who provided coupons in the guide. 

      They also bought air time on WATD.  Station owner Ed Perry generously offered to allow us to split the cost of 60 second ads at $22/minute instead of each organization paying the regular $20/30 second ad.  NSRWA proposed a joint venture for 85 ads to run from May through Sept.  The Board approved $935 for the project, so we can continue our radio pre-sence 4-5 times every Friday, plus some Thursdays.  Marshfield Board rep Bob Griffin and the Executive Director recorded compost bin and waste ban ads that ran through July.  August ads will feature information about recycling at the Marshfield Fair, and fall ads will announce our Household Hazardous Product collections. 

Ways & Means takes Trash 101

     The Executive Director met with Ways & Means Environmental Policy Analyst Fay Boardman in May.  She used the opportunity to explain the state of trash and re-cycling and the need for more support to municipal and private infrastructure to improve the efficiency of waste management in Mass.  The main point was that the way our waste in Mass. is managed is not sustainable, and is costing our towns and economy a lot more than it should.  There is an urgent need to reestablish leadership and financial investment at the State level to develop the infrastructure and change individual and institutional behavior to recover as much as we can from our trash. 

     More than half of our recyclable commodities (paper, metals, plastics, etc), and 2/3 of compostable food and yard waste still winds up in the trash.  Over 4 million tons of residential and commercial recyclables and organics are buried or burned in our state each year.  In the fifteen SSRC member towns, trashing recyclables costs an estimated $3 million/year in unnecessary disposal costs.

Deep cuts to our State’s recycling budget in the wake of the 2003 budget crisis have hampered efforts to solve this problem.  Now it’s time to bring back the Clean Environment Fund and spend it on sustainable waste management before it becomes a crisis. 

For more information, check out the new web page, State of Trash

Rags to riches

     At our June meeting, Paul Curry explained how towns can raise cash through clothing dona-tions.   Bay State Textile Corp. provides containers and collection services for discarded clothing, shoes and stuffed toys, paying $30 /ton to the host commu-nity for the collected material, and another $20/ton to a spe-cified local youth program.  They also offer a $1,000 pay-ment up front for towns that take a container, and don’t require the removal of other donation boxes.  They expect some unwanted materials to be deposited in the containers, and have an outthrow rate of 3%.

      BSTC has worked with municipalities for 16 months.  The company got good reports from towns that furnished references, and the program is supported with a grant from Mass. DEP. 

      Materials are sorted at their 50K sq.ft. facility in New Bedford and shipped world-wide. Unusable textiles are ground up and recycled. 20 foot long trailers hold 5,000 lbs, and are picked up with a day of being called.  Bay State Textiles can be reached at Boston2674@aol.com

      Only about 25% of the 70 lbs/capita of discarded textiles are recycled nationwide.  In our SSRC communities, that amounts to about 8,500 tons of valuable material that is going up in smoke at SEMASS, or buried at the Seneca Meadows Landfill, at a cost of over $500K.

Site Visits with Rosemary

      The Executive Director is visiting as many solid waste managers as she can this summer to stay up to date about their programs and needs, and to share information that may have slipped through the cracks. This summer, I have been joined by our area’s DEP Municipal Assistance Coordinator (“MAC”) Rosemary Nolan on many visits.  There is plenty for both of us to do in assisting the towns with reducing their trash volume and costs!

      So far, one or both of us have met with folks in Abington, Cohasset, Hanover, Hingham, Marshfield, Norwell, Plymouth, Rockland, Scituate, Weymouth and Whitman.  We are reviewing current programs, sharing contact information, and offering help with forms, contracting, management and outreach.  I will schedule visits with the rest of our towns in September.

      As staffing cuts and shortages continue to challenge municipalities, Rosemary and I hope you regard us as another pair of hands to help solid waste managers prepare plans, optimize programs, recycle at events, attend community meetings, and conduct outreach regarding solid waste and recycling.  We can also help with the recently issued DEP grant package so that you maximize benefits for your municipality and to ensure that the grant is submitted in a timely manner.  Due to high competition, it is strongly recommended that grants be sent to DEP between mid and late August instead of waiting for the deadline of September 8 (Labor Day week).  You can contact Rosemary at rnolan@townofmarshfield.org as she works out of the Marshfield DPW Office for D.E.P.       

Scheduling 2006 HHP Dates

      After a sharp drop in attendance in 2004, south shore residents are once again cleaning out their sheds and basements.  With only half the HHP collections under our belts, attendance is at 1350, not much less than the 1725 cars we counted in all of 2004!  In 2003, our towns processed 2354 cars.  55 visitors from non-host towns and small businesses  have traveled to the seven collections so far this year, about on par with recent years.

      The first of six fall collections will happen at the Abington Highway Garage on September 10 with Whitman and Holbrook.  The SSRC is also administering a concurrent tire collection with Mainline Tire.

      Our sweet contract with Clean Harbors is in its last extension, which expires 6/30/06.  We will be putting out an RFP in September for a new contract.  In the meantime, we have already begun scheduling collection dates for 2006.

 

Recycling Wins at Marshfield Fair

      The SSRC has teamed up with the Mass. Lottery Commission and MassRecycle to make recycling at the Marshfield Fair easy and fun.  For the second year, fairgoers can recycle their empty bottles and cans in recycling carts and bins conveniently located next to the trash receptacles. Vendors can also recycle their cardboard at the Fair, which runs from August 19-28.   Last year the SSRC got a grant for containers and program from the DEP, and rescued 5 tons of bottles, cans and cardboard from the trash. DEP’s Ann McGovern will again coordinate the volunteer effort, this time as a volunteer herself.  “Recycling Ambassadors”, including several SSRC Board members, will monitor the bins, remind fairgoers of their opportunity to reduce the Fair’s waste, and provide information at the recycling exhibit. The Town of Marshfield’s recycling vendor, North Shore Recycled Fibers, will provide roll-off trailers, and remove and recycle the materials collected at no charge. 

      The Lottery’s Instant Re-play Program, which also debuted at last year’s Marshfield Fair, will return to give fairgoers another chance to win with their scratch tickets.  Participants 18 and older receive a free $1.00 Instant Ticket for every 25 Mass. Lottery instant tickets they return.  Including the seven tons recycled at last year’s Fair, the Lottery has recovered a total of 58 tons of tickets at several events in the past year.

      Retired cell phones will also be collected for reuse and recycling in a MassRecycle collection box near the Instant Re-play kiosk.  Donors should deactivate their phones, which are sent to Charitable Recycling.   “Cell phones and electronics contain both valuable and toxic materials that make them too good and too bad for the trash” said MassRecycle President Claire Sullivan, who is also the Executive Director of the SSRC.  “We want it to be easy for people to make the best choices with their discards.”      “It makes sense for an agricultural fair to make the effort to conserve resources and protect the environment,” said Carleton Chandler, the Marshfield Agricultural and Horticultural Society’s Secretary- Treasurer.  “It also makes financial sense, since we will avoid paying the $125/ton tip fee for these materials at the transfer station.”

      "I look forward to the day that recycling will be included at every public event in Massachusetts”, said McGovern.  “With a little effort, we can all make a big difference for our environment."

Hingham Hires New Asst. Supt.

            There’s a new kid on the block, he’s from the private sector, and he has big ideas for the Hingham Transfer Station.  Randy Sylvester was appointed Assistant Superintendent of the DPW in March after putting in 18 years at the Water Company.  He’s dealt with the 3 drums of sharps he found on site, next is the mammoth brush and compost (and tree stump and engine block…) area, then he plans to tackle revamping the recycling area.  The SSRC is helping him learn the lay of the land of waste management, and he will benefit from a visit to the Wellesley Transfer Station too, which has many similarities to Hingham’s layout.  We look forward to seeing Randy at our monthly meetings.  It won’t be long before he’s giving the rest of us pointers. 

Marshfield attacks waste from all sides

     DPW Supt. Jeb Deloach hates to see things go to waste.  The Board of Public Works will leave no stone unturned in streamlining their trash operations.

      Since she filled the new Recycling Coordinator position in April, Debbie Sullivan (the Exec. Dir’s “adopted sister”) has made presentations at all the schools, and succeeded in signing them up for the Green Team.  She worked with the custodians to help them set up bigger and better containers for recycling.  At the end of the school year she met with contact teachers for each grade at every school, to prepare for the fall.  Supt. DeLoach, Commissioners Bob Shaughnessy and Joseph Lambert, and MAC Rosemary Nolan inspired the School Committee to embrace the waste reduction goal as well.  The team is also working to improve the recycling program at other municipal buildings. 

      Debbie and Rosemary teamed up to produce a video for local cable, who has given her great encouragement.  She has worked with Project Manager Paul Tomkavage, Transfer Station Foreman John Bianchi, and her “sister” Claire to optimize contracts and maximize revenue from recyclable commodities accepted at the Transfer Station.  Rosemary assisted in negotiating an advantageous deal with North Shore Recycled Fibers, which will pay for their paper, take the rest of the commingled materials at no charge, and provide compaction equipment.  Coaching from both Rosemary and the Exec Dir. helped them negotiate a better disposal contract with Seneca Meadows Landfill, at a rate lower than what they’d been paying ($75/ton, including the haul from the transfer station). 

      The Board of Public Works is evaluating their fee structure, and considering reintroducing Pay as you Throw to reduce waste and costs for all residents who wish to manage their trash efficiently.

      Debbie and Rosemary met  with several businesses in the town to encourage better use of the town’s recycling services, and offer them SSRC Business Recycling Partnership recycling containers (yes, we still have some!).  But Deb’s biggest project will be working with the residents.  She plans to find a resource person for each development in the town, and to design signs, meet  with neighborhood groups, and identify what she can do to help with recycling in the town.   Debbie has attended SSRC meetings monthly and will host the August meeting.  And she only works half time!  At the rate she is going, she will save the town many times what they are paying her.  Other towns are encouraged to invest in a dedicated solid waste manager, it pays off in spades.

Which are the trashiest South Shore towns?

     Thanks to the CY04 Recycling data sheets I’ve been harassing everyone about, now we can look at our trash numbers and see who’s doing the best job reducing their waste, and where we can improve.

      So what towns are pulling the most recyclables out of their trash? When I divided the tons of MSW (municipal trash, but not C&D) by the number of households served by each town’s municipal program, the lowest per household trash generation came from ritzy Scituate, with 1,478 lbs./HH, comfortable Cohasset, with 1,572 lbs./HH, and hardworking Holbrook, with 1,788 lbs/HH.  What do these towns have in common?  Residents pay for each bag of trash they dispose, aka Pay as you Throw.  The regional average is 2,336 lbs/HH.

      Looking at the recycling tonnages for paper, cardboard, bottles and cans, Cohasset and Scituate again top the list, with 940 and 916 lbs/HH respectively, followed by Norwell at 619 lbs./HH.  The average for all our towns is 544 lbs/HH.

        Calculating recycling rates from these numbers, without making any assumptions, or including materials not collected in all towns or the difficult to estimate compost figure, Scituate wins the prize again at 38.3%, followed closely by Cohasset at 37.4%, and Duxbury at 21.9%. The south Shore average is 19.2.

       A Tellus Institute statewide waste audit released in 2003 estimates that up to 54% of municipal waste included in the above calculations is recyclable paper, cardboard, bottles and cans.  These numbers suggest is that there are still a LOT of recyclables going into the trash, at an estimated cost to our towns and residents of well over $2.5 million!  Paper is the biggest offender.

        So which of our towns’ residents generate the most trash?  Did you really think I would print that in the newsletter?  Sorry, you’ll have to come to our August 17 meeting to find out.  I don‘t want to talk trashy about our members!

Companies vying for Paper, Recyclables

     Municipal trash contains some hot commodities these days, and more companies are trying to get their slice of it by offering equipment, rebates and even curbside collection. 

     Marshfield and Plymouth both just negotiated contracts with North Shore Recycled Fibers, which manufactures recycled paper products locally, to provide compactors, hauling from the transfer station, and processing of commingled bottles and cans at no cost, plus a rebate currently at $12.50/ton (which will vary with the market pricing) for their mixed paper and cardboard. 

     Several other recycling companies, including Avon’s Recycle America Alliance, an arm of Waste Management Inc., and FCR in Charlestown, a division of Casella, are also hungry for material and are offering creative arrangements that are more beneficial to municipalities, depending on volume, degree of separation, etc.  Towns with curbside contracts would be wise to consider separating the processing component of their curbside contracts from the collection to give themselves the option of negotiating their own deal for these increasingly valuable commodities.  Both RAA and FCR are contemplating single stream recycling, where all paper, cardboard, bottles and cans can go in one big recycling toter at the curb.  FCR is even considering providing curbside collection of just recyclables.

     The economics of recycling give us even more reason to pull more recyclables out of the trash.  A preliminary study by the Executive Director indicates that our member towns are still paying to burn 2/3 of their residents’ recyclables, at a cost of well over $2 million/year, just for the paper! There is still a lot of work ahead of us to capture this wasted material.

Freecycle – an online Swap Shop

         Towns that don’t manage their own “swap shops” can divert useful discards by referring their residents to freecycle.org.  This fast-growing international group of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns  began in Tucson, AZ on May 1st, 2003 and now boasts 2,990 off-shoots from Japan to Wichita, with more than 1.5 million members. The Freecycle Network was started to promote waste reduction in Tucson's downtown and help save desert landscape from being taken over by landfills. The Network provides individuals and non-profits an electronic forum to "recycle" unwanted items.

      Locally, there are groups in Hingham, Holbrook, Kingston, Rockland, Quincy and Brockton.  Each local group is run by a  volunteer moderator.  To sign up, find your community by clicking on the region on the right. It will generate an automatic e-mail which, when sent, will sign you up for your local group and send you a response with instructions on how it works.

    The Executive Director joined her local Freecycle group in Needham in June, and easily found a home for her rotary lawn mower that she didn’t feel like fixing.   The new owner picked it up, and that was that! She receives about 2 postings/day, but has fought the urge to pursue posted items, which range from teacups to strollers to scanners to Roman shades.

    For more information on freecycling and a list of freecycle groups, visit Freecycle.   There is also a link to it at ssrc.info on the “links” page.

“No Time to Waste!” in September

     SWANA’s Mass. Chapter, MassRecycle, Mass. DEP, and the Construction Materials Recycling Ass’n are cosponsoring the 3rd Annual Solid Waste Conference & Trade Show,  “NO TIME TO WASTE!”,  at the Cape Codder Resort and Spa in Hyannis on September 12 & 13^th. 

      This year the Conference features two days of technical sessions geared to both municipal and private sector needs in managing solid waste & recyclables.  Tuesday features training sessions on contracts and on the hazards associated with managing wastes.  The trade show and after hours activities, including dinner and casino night, will provide fun networking opportunities! Take a swim in the wave pool or play a round of golf. 

      To register by September 2, go to www.massrecycle.org/events.html. 

Sullivan voted MassRecycle Prez

     On May 25, the Executive Director got a new hat, when she was voted in as MassRecycle’s new president.  The organization, which is a “coalition of individuals, governments, businesses, institutions and non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting and realizing the vital environmental, social and economic benefits created by reducing, reusing, and recycling waste materials, and by increasing the utilization of recycled products”, shares many of the goals of the SSRC, on a statewide level.  As the budget permits, the Mass. DEP has subsidized membership in MassRecycle for one official in each of the 351 municipalities.  Information on member benefits and additional membership and sponsorship categories can be found at www.massrecycle.org.  Look for our cell phone donation center at the Marshfield Fair, near the Lottery’s Instant Re-Play kiosk!

Tune in to 1550 AM this Sunday, when the Executive Director will be discussing the State of Trash on the Frugal Yankee, 8/20 at 1 pm with co-hosts Garen Daly and Louise Reilly Sacco on 1550 WNTN, also streaming at frugalyankee.com