Fourth Year in a Row - Waste Budget Unchanged Thanks to Recycling

by Bruce Farrin
     MEXICO - In a time when it seems everything else is going up, the cost of solid waste for six area towns will remain unchanged for 2010.
     Further, the Northern Oxford Regional Solid Waste Board has not changed what it charges member towns of Rumford, Mexico, Dixfield, Peru, Roxbury and Byron now for four consecutive years.
     The reason? It's all because of the work residents are doing with recycling.
     John Madigan, administrator for NORSWB, said people have recycled between 1,000 and 1,500 tons over the past six years, not only earning money from a market for cardboard, newsprint, plastic and tin cans, but also creating a savings by taking this out of the waste stream and transportation costs to the landfill in Norridgewock.
     He noted that a volatile market resulted in a revenue of $73,579 in 2009 for recycled items. The prior two years, combined income was nearly $300,000, some of which was added to the undesignated fund balance to maintain the assessments to towns at $866,917 per year since 2007.
     "The more we take out of the waste stream, the better we all are," said Madigan, noting that without recycling, taxpayers would have to raise an additional $173,000.
     As good as that news is, it's within everyone's power to do a much better job at recycling. "There's still a lot of people who don't recycle," he noted.
     If people in these six towns doubled the amount of recycling, Madigan said NORSWB would save on the $60 per ton tipping fees as well as making more money on recyclables in a market that is starting to pay more again. He estimated that the end result would be an impact of $200,000.
     How doable would this be? Consider that 8,745 tons of solid waste went into the transfer station in Mexico in 2009.
     Patricia Duguay of River Valley Healthy Communities, who has been educating readers in the Rumford Falls Times through her columns Ways to Welless and Waste Time With Patty, said, "I would dare say a third of that material could have been recycled, and probably more...It's a little bit of effort, but it can make a difference. In this case, people have the power."
     Recycling bins are available in the Rumford and Mexico town hall. In Rumford, there is a limit of one free bin per household. In Mexico, the first bin is free, with an additional bin costing $4.
     If you have questions, call Eric Schmersal, manager of the transfer station, at 364-3645, or if you have concerns about pick up, call Archie's at 364-2425.
     
     
     Five basic sorts of recycling
     Recycling really isn't that difficult. There are five basic sorts: paper, cardboard, clear glass, cans and plastic. Paper and cardboard bring in the most revenue and are the heaviest. Plastic is the most valuable but it takes a lot more to make a ton.
     Paper includes newspapers and inserts, phone books, magazines, catalogs, office paper, shredded paper, paperback books, hard cover books, flyers, glossy inserts, junk mail, wrapping paper, all types and office and school papers, colored paper, manila folders, coated (slick) paper, post-it notes, window envelopes, colored bond paper, construction paper, colored copy paper, index cards, lined paper, legal pad paper, NCR paper, paper with printing/writing and fax paper. Please keep dry and clean.
     Cardboard includes all types of corrugated cardboard, paperboard (cereal boxes, paper towel tubes, shoe boxes, tissue boxes, cracker boxes and similar items), foreign cardboard and paper egg cartons, boxboard; brown envelopes, paper feed and seed bags, and brown paper bags. Please flatten boxes and keep dry and clean.
     Check plastic containers for codes PETE 1, HDPE 2 and PP 5, which can be recycled. Items include soda, water, cleaners, food containers, milk, detergent, shampoo, reusuable food and drink containers. Please remove tops and rinse, discard caps and lids. Do not include motor oil bottles or other petroleum containers, plastic cups, flowers, pens, toys, plastic wrap, or styrofoam, plastic bowls, bags, trays, film, caps or lids and no other type (number 3, 4, 6, 7) of plastic. Glass and cans just need to be rinsed.
     For more information, contact the recycling center at 364-3645 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.