Board approves $10K for radio ads

SEMASS to kick in $4.7K more

Program your radio presets to WATD, 95.9 FM, WPLM 99.1 FM, and WJDA 1300 AM.  The SSRC will be on all three stations morning, noon and night all the way through next June, preaching the virtues of waste reduction and recycling.  The series already started with the announcement of America Recycles Day, which was November 15. WJDA's Joe Catalano will interview us on his morning show on Dec. 8 at 8:30 am.

Over the nine month period, the SSRC will run nearly 1000 30- and 60-second ads, plus weekday sponsorships of WATD’s news, sports or weather, at a total cost of $14,070.  The talents of some Board members, including Bob Griffin, Steve Herrmann, Michelle Roberts, and Debbie Sullivan have already been tapped to record  the twelve ads taped to date, which explain why we should recycle paper, compost kitchen scraps, trade in mercury thermometers and buy recycled paper products. The SSRC website is being updated to provide information referenced in the ads.  Sixteen more ads remain to be written and recorded.

The staff at WATD has been especially helpful in recording and distributing the spots, and they have joined the South Shore Business Recycling Partnership too!  The station now hosts a container from Abitibi (see related article), and is using bins and deskside recycling containers from both the Town of Marshfield and the SSRC.

Paper waste costs towns millions

The Executive Director made a startling discovery when she analyzed our member towns’ 2004 Recycling Data Sheets.  Using a statewide waste stream analysis in a recent report commissioned by Mass. DEP, she calculated the total amount of paper and cardboard in our municipal waste streams.  Most is still being trashed.

 Paper comprises 36% of the combined tonnage of municipal solid waste (MSW), paper, cardboard, bottles and cans, the components universally collected and most reliably reported (“Waste Reduction Program Assessment and Analysis for Massachusetts”, Tellus Institute, Feb. 2003, p. 57).  Based on that figure, less than 40% of the paper managed in our municipal solid waste programs is being recycled.  That means that about 30,000 tons of paper and cardboard was burned or buried in our municipal solid waste programs in 2004.  Based on each town’s tip fee and the estimated tonnage of recyclable paper being disposed in each town, our member towns paid about $2 million in unnecessary disposal costs for paper that could have been recycled. 

In addition, with a strong demand for recycled paper, several towns have negotiated market-based rebates from their paper processors which now run about $10/ton.  Disposing of 30,000 tons resulted in the potential loss of $300,000 in revenue for this wasted commodity.

Editorial comment:  Don’t get me started on the environ-mental cost of trashing all that good paper!  Half a million trees, 12 million gallons of fuel, 270 more tons of CO2…

Abitibi offers paper waste solutions

Jason Bean, area manager for Abitibi Consolidated, a leading producer of newsprint, explained the company’s novel approach to capturing waste paper in its 10 year old “Paper Retriever” program at the Board’s October meeting.  Abitibi, the name of an Indian tribe from Quebec, supplies some of the country’s largest news organizations, including The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal with high recycled content newsprint.  Paper collected locally goes to the Thorold plant in Ontario, which produces 100% recycled content newsprint.

To feed its mills, Abitibi provides 7 cubic yard closed containers to schools, churches, non-profits and businesses for the collection of magazines, newspapers, paperback books, and office paper. The containers hold 1½ to 2 tons of paper, are placed free of charge and can earn the sponsoring organization from $5 to $20 per ton.  The rebates are paid on a sliding scale, with the heaviest collections receiving the largest rebates. The containers are picked up weekly and regularly maintained by Abitibi. Monthly tonnage reports on the weights which are collected are provided to the sponsoring organizations and to each municipality in which containers are sited. No contracts are required and containers are removed upon request.

In 2004, Abitibi returned just under $3 million to the fund-raising groups which accepted their containers.  Abitibi is also available for educational presentations in the schools on recycling.

The schools in both Hull and Scituate, as well as WATD, have sited containers already.

For more information call 617-241-5407, x101, or email Jason_Bean@abitibiconsolidated.com.

Just 10 acres, that’s all she asks

DEP Municipal Assistance Coordinator (MAC) Rosemary Nolan is working with Milton and Weymouth on a compost project.  Both towns have space constraints and difficulty maintaining their sites.  She is negotiating with the Weymouth Air Base as one site, and is seeking other10 acre sites, which would qualify for host benefits from selected site manager Lion’s Head Organics. 

Call Rosemary at 857-204-5134, or Rnolan@townofmarshfield.org.

SSRC T-shirts are here

Chairman Merle Brown commissioned the printing of fifty SSRC T-shirts, so our Board members and associates can wear their support on their sleeve.  Actually, the SSRC logo is tastefully emblazoned on the left front, with a full size DEP slogan “Recycle: A little effort, a big difference” on the back.  Marshfield Fair volunteers got shirts, and several Board members picked theirs up at the November meeting. If you didn’t get yours, come to the December meeting! 

The Norwell Recycling Committee will also be giving a dozen shirts to winners of the 4th and 5th grade calendar contest, along with our matching water bottles.

The Bourne ISWMF notified its municipal customers that they should anticipate a pricing increase in July to $75-80/ton.  Their rate for accepting construction and demolition waste (C&D) from its municipal clients has stood at $70/ton since July of 2004.  The rate increase will reflect the cost of construction a covered transfer facility for C&D materials as required by DEP.  The ISWMF must transfer the unprocessed C&D to a processing facility in order to comply with recently promulgated bans on the disposal of several of those materials (see related article).

Marshfield Fair recycles again

The Marshfield Fair wrapped up its second successful year of recycling cardboard, bottles, cans and instant Lottery tickets. The effort diverted nearly 5 of the 46 tons of waste generated during the 10-day fair.  DEP’s Ann McGovern again coordinated the volunteer effort, with support from the SSRC.  Public participation was fantastic as the SSRC spread the word on WATD and in the local papers. 

Fourteen volunteers, many from the SSRC, set up and maintained the recycling containers, which were picked up daily by the Marshfield Fair Grounds staff. The Town of Marshfield donated 100 extra recycling bins, bringing the total number of bins and toters to 200; there was a recycling container next to every trash can. North Shore Recycled Fibers, Marshfield's recycling contractor, donated the use and hauling of two 30-yard roll-off containers, which were filled with recyclables four times. 

The Mass. State Lottery, which debuted its Instant Re-play program at last year’s Fair, recycled 15 tons of non-winning scratch tickets, redeeming 25 used tickets for a free $1 ticket.  And MassRecycle collected cell phones and promoted its online donation program at www.massrecycle.org.

Two weddings and

a sabbatical

Duxbury’s DPW Director Tom Daley is honeymooning with new bride Lisa as this goes to press.  Sorry, ladies! Tom’s been squeezing in work on the new house between a very ambitious set of DPW projects, including a new and improved animal shelter. 

Plymouth’s new “Recycling Coordinator” (official title “Environmental Technician”) Kerin Berry exchanged vows with Dave McCall in October.  Congratulations, Mrs. McCall! Another one bites the dust.  Kerin is looking into grants for solar trash compactors.   The Executive Director recommended applying for a grant from the Renewable Energy Trust by Jan. 12, through the Mass. Technology Collaborative.

And Marshfield DPW Director Jeb DeLoach is helping to bring electricity to the masses in Afghanistan, building power plants with Advanced Engineering Associates International.  He left in August, and is expected back late March.

Updated Bottle Bill draws crowd to hearing

On Oct. 18, the Executive Director joined supporters of the Updated Bottle Bill in testifying at a hearing before the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy at the State House.  A bill sponsored by Rep. Doug Petersen (Marblehead) and Sen. Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. (Pittsfield) would expand the scope of the 20 year old deposit system by including wine, liquor, juice, sports drink, and water bottles, many which didn’t exist when the Bottle Bill was passed.  Those containers are recycled at a rate of about 25%, while 70-80% of deposit containers are redeemed and recycled.

Sen. Robert O’Leary and Rep. Colleen Garry both filed legislation to repeal the Bottle Bill and replace it with alternative systems.  O’Leary’s bill imposes a small tax on the distribution chain of a vast array of litter-producing products, with the intention of funding public and private sector incentives for waste reduction and recycling pro-grams. Garry’s proposal would impose a one-time only payment from distribu-tors, wholesalers, beverage container manufacturers and dealers to the state for similar purposes.

The Executive Director also voiced support for Rep. Tom O’Brien’s bill to reinstate the Clean Environment Fund.

The bills await a committee vote.  If the update passes the legislature and is signed by the Governor, Massachusetts would become the fourth state with an expanded bottle bill.

MassRecycle keeps recycling managers in the loop

MassRecycle will host a Recycling Continuing Education Workshop/ Roundtable on Wed., Jan. 11, an all day event at Worcester State College.  Topics will include outreach, education, paper recycling, swap shops, school recycling, business recycling and multi-family recycling.  It’s last such workshop occurred in June of 2003, and was highly acclaimed. MassRecycle plans to make it an annual event.  Go to www.massrecycle.org, or call 617-338-0244 for more information.

In September, we saw several of our managers at the SWANA/ MassRecycle Solid Waste Conference, “No Time to Waste”, a two day event at the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis.  The Executive Director, who is also President of MassRecycle, presented a seminar n regional recycling, and introduced the lunchtime speaker, Deputy Commissioner Ed Kunce from DEP. 

Mark your calendars for June 5-6.  MassRecycle is cosponsoring the Northeast Resource Recovery Association’s (NRRA) 25th Annual Recycling Conference at the Sheraton just over the border in Nashua, NH.  Some workshops will focus on Massachusetts issues, and instructors will fly in from Arizona to conduct two SWANA transfer station certification courses, which will run the entire week.

Have a Happy and Sustainable Holiday!

Produced by Claire Sullivan, Executive Director

South Shore Recycling Cooperative

508-785-8318; fax 508-785-2296

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