2011-08-09-TAR-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Trash and Recycling Collection Task Force Meeting Wednesday, August 9, 2011 Samuel Hadley Public Services Building 8:30 am Minutes Present R. Beaudon, J Krieger, J Carroll, S. Mayo, and P. Kelley Vendor presentations F.W. Russell and Sons Russell serves communities around Lexington such as Dedham, Methuen, Cambridge, etc. In some communities, they do everything in others, they collect only solid waste or recycling. Russell is a collection company who owns the recycling not the trash. The hiring town decides where the trash goes. They can do whatever Lexington decided is best for the town: single or dual stream. Single stream vs. dual stream recycling Russell believes single stream will turn to be more costly in the long run. Single stream is fashionable right now, companies make it cheaper or the same price as dual- stream. Many communities moved to single stream between 2008 -2010 because it was more "convenient" for the residents. However, he believes the price of single stream will go up in a few years and will become more expensive than dual- stream. Paper mills prefer dual stream material because is cleaner, gets less contaminated. So, even though it is easier for residents to recycle and they might recycle more, it doesn't necessary mean more gets recycled at the end. Lexington has an already high recycling rate (32 -33 %), switching to dual stream won't necessarily bring those numbers up. Also, once you move to single stream and people get use to place everything in one container, it will be very hard to go back to dual- stream. Cambridge had a 10% increase recycling with single stream. The city paid $300,000 for the barrels. The city of Cambridge will pilot a commercial food waste program with them. Most of the mills in the US are closing. Most of the US recycling is sent overseas. 50 -60% was taken by China until the Olympics. Community Education /Increasing recycling Dedham had a very weak recycling program. Russell met with key people in the community for one year and they ended up saving 4,000 tons of trash!