Back to Recycling "In The News"
By Elizabeth Brogan
Recycling is poised to become easier in Cape Elizabeth now that Regional Waste
Systems (RWS), of which Cape is one of 21 owner-members, has voted to bring
single-stream recycling to its communities.
Described by RWS Chairman Jeff Jordan of South Portland as “an investment
in leading-edge technology,” the $3.7 million first-in-Maine system
is expected to be complete and operational by the winter of 2007.
When the new system is in place, all types of recyclables— plastic and
metal containers, paper, and paperboard— can be thrown together in a
single container. No more cans in one bag and cereal boxes in another.
“Single stream is big news!” Alina Perez-Smith, Chair of the Cape
Elizabeth Recycling Committee said. “People know it’s important
to recycle. Single stream will make it very easy for everyone to actually
do it.”
According to Perez, 20 percent of Cape trash was recycled last year. “Cape
does a good job with recycling ... but we on the committee are always looking
for new ways to encourage people to recycle more.”
Town Councilor, RWS board member, and avid recycler, Carol Fritz, knows Cape
could do better than 20 percent. Fritz points out that Cape Elizabeth recycling
has been on the decline, with the reasons still unclear.
Fritz hopes the simplicity offered by single-stream technology, and the potential
savings of our tax dollars, will be just the thing to boost our recycling
numbers.
“The philosophy is to save towns money. If it’s simpler and you
know all your containers and paper products can go in one container, people
will recycle more,” Fritz said.
Last year Cape dumped 3,679 tons of trash. But, according to Town Manager
Mike McGovern, the tonnage cost of $158 per ton is based on a five-year average
of 3,600 tons per year (that’s $568,800 paid last year and the same
amount budgeted for this year). “This shows that our costs may be escalating
in future years without a significant uptick in recycling or other means to
reduce tonnage,” McGovern said.
According to Fritz, “the real savings will come when, and if, we put
in a compactor at the transfer station.” Fritz hopes a compactor used
with single-stream recycling could result in two-thirds fewer hauls. “It
costs $72 a haul every time we take one of those silver bullets to RWS.”
“The Town Council has an increase in recycling as a goal this year,”
Fritz said. “Now that RWS has passed this [single- stream recycling]
we’ll begin to consider [the purchase of a compactor] more seriously.”
While the purchase of a compactor is not in the current budget, Fritz believes
the purchase would be a money saver in the not-so-long run.
Two pilot projects, one in Portland and one in Lyman, were conducted to determine
the effects of single-stream recycling. In Lyman, which has a population of
3,909 and, like Cape, does not have curbside pickup, the greatest benefit
was in the reduced number of trips from the town recycling sites to the RWS
recycling facility in Portland. Projections for Lyman indicated a reduction
in hauls from 81 to 24 per year. At a cost of $125 per silver bullet/compacter
haul, that is a potential annual savings of approximately $7,125.
“In Lyman, they figured they would pay for a compactor [at an estimated
cost of between $10,000 and $11,000 for a compactor] within 18 months; plus
people seemed to like it better,” Fritz said.
According to Fritz, increased recyling makes sense for everyone in Cape, not
just those who are interested in the environmental benefits.
“People in this town always want more money for schools or other things,
but we spend so much money hauling trash! We could have more money for some
of those other things,” Fritz said.
“We pay for our trash, for every ton of trash we make. Along with the
trash, we’re throwing away our money.”