While many cast-offs brought to the Take-It-or-Leave-It tent at the Transfer Station have found new homes over the years, items that didn’t have been unceremoniously tossed into the trash bin at closing time on Wednesdays and Saturdays. That’s about to change. Department of Public Works Director Tim Kilhart told the Press that the town has signed a memorandum of agreement with CMRK, Inc., a Northborough company that will do weekly pickups of unclaimed TIOLI items for reuse or recycling. The pickups are scheduled to start the week of Dec. 13.
CMRK works with the Big Brother Big Sister Foundation, and its stated goal is to keep every item it collects out of landfills. In addition to collecting Take-It-or-Leave-It items, CMRK will install four textile boxes and two book boxes at the Transfer Station to replace the existing boxes owned by other vendors, which were frequently neglected and overflowing. There is no cost to the town for any of these services, and Harvard will receive a small amount of compensation for textiles.
Kilhart said residents should use CMRK’s home pickup service if they have many items to give away, since space in the tent will remain limited, and it will only be emptied weekly. Pickups can be scheduled online at cmrkne.com or by calling 508-466-4590.
The company accepts clothing, shoes, household items, small toys, books, art, bicycles, and musical instruments. Damaged items, furniture, and VHS tapes are not accepted. Full details are available on the website.
Reminder: Black plastic is not recyclable
While the recycling number stamped on black plastic take-out trays or flowerpots may lead residents to believe these items should be thrown into the recycling bin at the Transfer Station, Department of Public Works Director Tim Kilhart would like to remind everyone that black plastic is not recyclable. According to recyclesmartma.org, recycling facilities use a light beam to sort plastics. Items that are black or dark colored absorb the beam, so they can’t be sorted, and unsorted items in the plastic recycling stream end up incinerated or in landfills. Even if black plastic could be sorted, it can’t be dyed any other color, so it has limited recycling potential.
Some gardening centers, including those at many Home Depot and Lowe’s stores, take back plastic pots for reuse. As for take-out packaging, recyclesmartma.org suggests talking to local restaurant owners about switching to lighter colored or more eco-friendly options.
—Joan Eliyesil
