Transfer Station – new stickers needed 7/1

New stickers are needed for transfer station access by July 1 – get the application here.  $50 for the first car and $25 for any others for two years.

Town at max on trash levels

MassDEP gave me a town by town map of trash produced by each town in the state at the Massachusetts Municipal Association annual meeting last weekend.  This is a listing of the trash that goes to the incinerator.  Unfortunately, we are in the group of towns that produce the maximum amounts of trash.  On the attached map we are in the red category, the highest, producing something more that 2250 pounds of trash per household per year.

• 1276 lbs/household/year = statewide average for towns using PAYT and/or Smart systems
• 1914 lbs/household/year = non-smart towns average
• >2250 lbs/household/year = Medfield

There has to be a way to save the town some money by cutting down on the high amounts of our trash.

Single stream recycling contract

Solid Waste Committee is recommending that the Board of Selectmen award the new three year single stream recycling contract to Harvey, replacing Cassella who has provided the services to the town for the last three years.  Mike reports that Harvey came in with a lower price, and that they operate a good looking facility in Westboro.  Cassella apparently offered to match the lower price, once they became aware that they had been out bid.

I reminded Mike that the DEP constantly tells us that we can only achieve the highest recycling rates if we go to a Pay As You Throw (PAYT) system.  PAYT represents a choice of how much inconvenience and cost residents want to accept in order to have the town recycle more, and as a result therefore save more on its solid waste tipping fees (i.e. – the cost to get rid of recyclables is lower that cost to get rid of solid waste).  I have never seen any numbers generated by the Solid Waste Committee on how much we could save by implementing a PAYT system – hopefully they will put those numbers together for the town to consider, now that we have almost completed three years of single stream recycling.

Waste Management recycling barrels

If you use Waste Management for trash, I  recently learned that they  provides free wheeled barrels for recycling, which they will deliver to your home.  I got mine this week, and recommend it to all as being much easier to use to get things back and forth to the curb.  No more of the crashes I have experienced more than once by stacking the recycling tubs on top of the waste barrel to make it all in one trip.  Additionally, they are huge.  Call them at 800-972-4545 to get one.

Transfer station open through Sunday

From: “Donna Cimeno”
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 10:14 AM
Subject: TRANSFER STATION HOURS EXTENDED

I posted on the website, but wanted you to know that we are extending the transfer station hours.

We will be open TODAY – SUNDAY  9am -4pm.

Thanks

Donna

Swap year round

Yesterday I visited the Sherborn swap to see how they operated.  They have a series of small buildings, which allow them to operate year round. The largest is a metal building, perhaps 20′ X 30′, which housed furniture, board games, myriads of items, that seemed well organized.  I especially liked the foosball table.  There were at least two other wooden sheds, one housing sporting goods, and the other from a glance seemed to be skis.

I met two of the three volunteers who were manning the swap.  Carol Rosenberg of the Recycling Committee and I discussed the differences of our two systems, and possible opportunities for synergies from coordinating services.  She asked if Medfield might even consider taking Sherborn’s trash and whether Medfield residents might be interested in dropping things off at the Sherborn swap.  Sherborn currently lets anyone take away swap items, but only Sherborn residents are allowed to leave items.  I retorted that we should always be willing to discuss opportunities to work together, and so she took one of the selectmen business cards I paid to get printed up to assist with such communication, saying that she would be talking to the chair of their Board of Selectmen this week, and would let me know.

Recycling % is up

Mike Sullivan’s email to the Solid Waste Committee last week reported that recycling was up.  He attached a detailed spreadsheet.

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The updated recycling information, including April tonnange and May credit is attached. Looks like recycling rate has jumped to 26% to 27% recently from around 22% to 23%. Hope the trend continues.  Mike

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DEP tells me that the only real way to maximize recycling is to implement pay as you throw (PAYT).  The DEP website on PAYT  (http://www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/reduce/paytfact.htm)  lists Wrentham as being over 30% recycling rates on PAYT, Duxbury looks to have cut its solid waste budget by more than 50% by using PAYT (saving a couple hundred thousand dollars a year), and Needham trash dropped 50% when it went with PAYT.  We have implemented single stream and seen an uptick in recycling, but Duxbury too implemented single stream, and its graph showed modest effects from single stream, but a dramatic drop when PAYT was started.

I think the lessons are clear, that if we want to save the town the most money and to recycle the most, we really need to start PAYT.  The problem is that no one really likes PAYT, but even if we do not like PAYT we should really like the results we can get from using it, both is saving money and in doing our part to save the planet.

Transfer Station open daily for two weeks

It was reported at last night’s Board of Selectmen meeting that Ken Feeney wants to have the Transfer Station open daily for both this week and next.   It was clear from the context that it will be open every day this week, but it also seemed that it will be open daily next week too – however, best to check on next week before you count on it.

Recycling our scrap metal

Took our broken riding lawnmower to Allied Recycling, 1901 Washington Street, Walpole, and they gave us $44 for the scrap metal value.  Interesting experience to see the operation, lots of employees, and crazy busy on a Saturday.

Electronix Redux Corp.’s Press Release on its First Collection Day

Town of Medfield Transfer Station E-waste Results – August 6th, 2011

The launch of the new e-waste recycling program at the Town of Medfield Transfer Station on August 6th was an undeniable success.  Medfield is a little “greener” this month, thanks to the cooperation of Medfield residents, the Medfield Transfer Station, and Electronix Redux Corp.  Over 100 town residents assisted the Electronix Redux team in recycling almost 4 tons of electronic waste without a hitch.  Residents flowed efficiently through the e-waste drop-off station as they handed off old televisions, computers, cell phones, and other expired electronics throughout the day, filling the company’s 18 foot box truck to its limit.  Electronic waste or “e-waste” as it is sometimes called can contain harmful heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium and mercury.    It is the responsibility of everyone to ensure that these items are handled properly and in as safe a manner as possible and the Town of Medfield is certainly doing its part.  The team would like to thank everyone that came out to make the first event such a success, and looks forward to next month’s e-waste collection day on September 3rd.