Tip #30: Why can’t the Transfer Station go to ‘single-stream’ recycling?
The disadvantage of single-stream recycling is cross contamination. Broken glass contaminates paper; paper can contaminate glass, plastic, and metal containers. If glass is combined with cardboard, the processing facility can lose 40% of the revenue and 40% of the usable cardboard due to glass contamination. Once a town goes to single-stream recycling, the price that companies pay drops significantly, as does the amount of recycling that can be used.
Right now Harvard has three “streams”: 1) paper, 2) glass, and 3) plastic and metal containers. We can donate bottles and cans with a deposit to the Boy Scouts. And there are textile and book deposit boxes at the Transfer Station for ease of access.
This recycling tip is brought to you by the Transfer Station Committee.
Editor’s Note: To gain entry to Harvard’s Transfer Station and empty trash, residents must purchase an $80 sticker. The sticker entitles its holder to dispose of recyclable glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and books at no charge. But residents must purchase specially marked bags to dispose of nonrecyclable materials. These are available at Westward Orchards, the Harvard General Store, Harvard Outdoor Power Equipment, Bolton Orchards in Bolton, and Shop ’n Save in Ayer. The Press publishes these weekly tips to help readers reduce the volume of their trash, while increasing the volume they recycle.
