Recycling - Swap Shop must change or face closure
Back to Recycling "In The News"
By Louise Sullivan (05/05/2007)
After three years of research and retooling, ecomaine, formerly Regional Waste Systems, is moving to single-stream recycling on May Day. Cape homeowners will no longer need to sort paper from plastic and metal. Plastic recycling has been greatly expanded to include all plastic numbered 1 through 7, which includes yogurt containers, and plastic chairs.
The process makes recycling much easier for the homeowner. The silver bullets behind the town hall and at the transfer station will remain as they are; the big change happens at home. The convenience is a big plus; typically, town recycling rates skyrocket when single stream is introduced.
Ecomaine is in the last stages of converting the recycling facility on Blueberry Road in Portland from labor-intensive hand sorting to a series of spinning rubber “stars,” directed air currents, and seemingly endless miles of continuous conveyor belt. Single stream has been the goal of ecomaine’s General Manager, Kevin Roche, since he came to Maine from Buffalo, NY.
According to Missi Labbe, ecomaine’s recycling coordinator, the West Coast has been using single-stream recycling for 10 years. It’s finally possible here in Maine because of the worldwide demand for post-consumer waste. Markets for used metal, plastic, paper, and cardboard are the best they’ve ever been. More and more companies are experiencing what Pat Anderson, the town’s transfer station manager, has long held: “It’s not trash; it’s treasure. It’s money in the bank or stock in our portfolio.”
ecomaine has created a brochure with guidelines for the new system, available at the Thomas Memorial Library, on the Cape Elizabeth recycling committee Web site, at www.capeelizabeth.com/recycle/, and on CETV Channel 3.