Single-stream recycling meeting

[ilai]

I just got back from the meeting held at the West Somerville Neighborhood School about the city's upcoming single-stream recycling program, where all the recyclables (paper, plastic, metal, and glass) can be commingled in a new cart provided by the city. Highlights from the meeting:

• The program will start on October 17, and anything that fits inside the cart doesn't have to be broken down.
• Delivery of the carts will start on October 10 (Columbus Day weekend) and take three weeks, starting from the west side of the city toward the east. They'll put them out on your sidewalk/driveway.
• Some people may receive carts after the program starts, but they will still take recycling in the old blue bins.
• Single-/two-family houses receive one free cart; 3-families receive 2; and 4-6 unit buildings receive 3. More can be purchased for $45 each from the DPW.

Also,

• The carts have serial numbers that are linked to your address so they can be tracked and returned to their rightful places, but it's still a good idea to mark them with your address with paint or something else.
• Pizza boxes will now be allowed, provided you scrape the cheese off.
• Still not allowed: plastic bags and styrofoam.
• Old blue bins can be recycled as well--in fact if they're put out on the curb empty they'll get recycled.
• There will be new recycling trucks that can handle unloading the new carts in the back; they look like trash trucks in case people are worried about their recyclables getting trashed by mistake.

Comments

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Pizza Boxes??? Woo Hoo!

I can't help but wonder how many folks will gather their recyclables inside in plastic bags and then just dump the whole thing in to the bin… and how much that'll mess with the stream. But then, it's all getting hand-sorted anyway, I'd presume.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

I've had single-stream for a while and I live in a large apartment building, and this is exactly what happens. I have to resist the urge to pull out all the plastic bags every time I drop my own stuff off. IMO it would help a lot if they put stickers on the bins telling you what's not allowed. I might use my labelmaker to make "no plastic bags/styrofoam" labels.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

You know, I wonder if being in an apartment building makes a difference re: using plastic bags - most folks around me (and myself as well) are in single or multi-family houses, and we all use our blue bins.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Our blue bin is nearly dead and so I expect to recycle it soon... And I'm betting they won't have any replacements now. :)

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I plan to go check this week. I meant to go check when I'd heard about singlestream being on the way but before they'd started this massive publicity effort, but I bet I'm too late. Grr.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

It just kills me when people care enough to attempt to recycle, but can't be bothered to learn about what is actually recyclable and how they just muck things up by throwing in wood, chicken bones (yes seriously), lightbulbs, etc. Do they think it all just goes to some place where it's sorted by magic? (Don't get me wrong, they have very cool ways of automating much of the sorting process, but stuff being trapped in plastic bags has got to be a problem.)

[beezy515.livejournal.com]

I wish the state had a program in which school kids are taken on a field trip to a recycling plant and shown how things are sorted. Actually, I'd like to go on field trip to see how things are sorted, because I still don't understand how they keep other items from contaminating the paper.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

I totally geek out on stuff like this. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhlslBUpS6c&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLD6177A658348EEB8

I think comingled paper does get kinda soiled and so it's a lower grade that is sold for less money.

[beezy515.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Interesting stuff.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

The Cambridge DPW organizes free tours of the recycling and trash plants they use.

http://www.cambridgema.gov/citynewsandpublications/publications/detail.aspx?path=%2Fsitecore%2Fcontent%2Fhome%2Ftheworks%2Fpermitsanddocuments%2FDocuments%2FDocuments%2FR%2FRecycling%2FNewsletters%2Fseptember2011

[ilai]

At the meeting they said that the cart will have a listing on the lid of what's recyclable, but not having seen it I don't know how detailed it is.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

That's good! I'm in JP now, so maybe they just didn't do it here.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Your comment about gathering recyclables in plastic bags made me think of a question: in Cambridge there's an exemption from the no-plastic-bags rule for putting just paper into clear trash bags, so e.g. shredded stuff doesn't get everywhere. Is that also the case with Somerville's new programs?

(FWIW, in Cambridge which has had single-stream for about 6 months or so I haven't heard of anyone gathering recyclables in plastic bags, other than paper; people tend to use the blue bins to gather their recyclables then transport them to the carts.)

[ilai]

I don't think there's an exemption--after the meeting the man (darn I forgot his name) said that shredded paper should all be dumped into the cart since it has a lid that should prevent it from flying everywhere.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I picked up a flier about zero-sort recycling today, and it said to place shredded paper in clear plastic bags and to tie the bags shut. (I think it was referring to those special plastic bags that are designed to fit inside a shredder, although it didn't actually say this.)

[ronhaha108.livejournal.com]

I'm in Medford and we've had single stream recycling for about a year, love it, anyway, our literature said to put shredded paper in paper bags. I dump the shredded paper bucket into a paper bag and use another paper bag over the top of the other to enclose it, works great!

[minibusy]

Plastic bags are the number one thing Casella employees have to deal with, and the plastic bags are hand removed from the stream, but sorting is mostly automated.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

yay for pizza boxes!

[squirrelitude]

If the old blue bins are to be disposed of... that means it will be open season on personal use! (I had the impression that they were only to be used for recycling, not as personal totes (like postal bins) but I may have been mistaken.)

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

I just moved from Cambridge and have been missing the single-stream, so this is awesome! Hurray!

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

what I want to know is if I can still get an old blue bin, or if my last chance to replace it has come and gone.

I carefully set up my kitchen to have room for the blue bin, and with a giant bin outside shared with my neighbors, I still need a place to put my recyclables on a daily basis and to transport them out to the outdoor bin. Might as well be the one I can get for free that already fits in that spot ;-)

I am also somewhat dubious about the two-family houses getting one giant bin - annoying if I wind up with a mass of cardboard and then go down to discover that they did spring cleaning that week too, or something.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

pay $45 for another one so you don't have to think about it?

[antimony.livejournal.com]

Since it says if you put it out empty it will be recycled, cruise around and find one and just snag it?

[nathanjw]

Generic medium-size blue bins are for sale commercially; we bought a second one at Home Depot so that we could put paper out in one (since we never seem to have enough paper bags, and use the city-issued one for containers).
I'm sure it was more like $20.

[nurrynur.livejournal.com]

If you call (or go to the franey rd office to get one) can you let me know if they are still giving them out? We just moved also, and I am in a similar situation to yours. I would like to have a bin for keeping inside the house, to empty into the big cart outside.

single stream recycling

[andrea humphrey (from livejournal.com)]

thx for this detailed report and the great info in the comments. we have single stream at my college, but i've never understood how it works either. so the youtube vid answers that one. i'll be pointing my neighbors to your blog.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

Will landlords be required to provide one over time? I can see them disappearing and tenants not being willing to fork over $45. With the number of absentee landlords and apartment turnover (and some expected level of theft), you could see a real drop in the number of bins in use.

Old Blue Bins - Recycled or Trashed?

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing this. Before you posted, I had messaged 311 asking about blue bin recycling. We have a couple that are broken pretty badly and, in the past, I had heard that Somerville doesn't recycle them. The response I just got was "If you have any broken recycling bins (small blue ones) you would just need to post a piece of paper on it with big black lettering, 'Russell Please Take for Trash, Bin Is Broken'. Then put the bin out on the curb on your regular trash day for pick up. If you have any further questions you can call 6176663311 or via email." I'm HOPING that was you were told at the recycling meeting is actually the truth. I would hate to see lots of old blue bins in the trash!