Report shows recycling rates fluctuate
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

Jennifer Smith took a cardboard box full of recyclables from her car. She walked over to a row of bins at the Farmington recycling station, and started putting plastic containers in one bin, mixed paper in another and cans in a barrel across the way.

For the most part, this scene is repeated by residents in many towns across the region.

2002 state recycling reports for the greater Franklin County area show that towns’ recycling rates continue to fluctuate.

Jay has trash and recyclable pickup paid for by the taxpayers.

Among the variable factors in the rates are whether the town factored in all recyclables in its report to the state, oversight and types of municipal recycling programs.

Roy Gross, an employee of Farmington’s recycling station, helped Smith Thursday dispose of her recyclables.

Smith of Farmington has involved her four children ages 18 months to 13 in the recycling process at home.

“I believe it cuts down in the waste to our environment,” Smith said. “A lot of good things are made out of recyclables.”

The more her family recycles, she said, the less it costs her to dispose of trash.

In Farmington, residents pay $2 a bag of trash to a private hauler.

Smith keeps her monthly trash disposal bill down to $10, she said.

Hank Tyler of the State Planning Office said Farmington gets an “A+” for keeping track of recycling data, which covers residents, businesses and a university.

The fact that trash disposal is paid for by the residents is also a plus. In a lot of towns, the cost of solid waste disposal is picked up by taxpayers.

Farmington also belongs to the Sandy River Waste Recycling Program and has adjusted 2002 recycling rate of 46.3 percent in the town of 7,410 residents.

Like many towns in the region, Farmington’s adjusted recycling rates has fluctuated since 1993.

Livermore Administrative Assistance Kurt Schaub said residents are recycling more than ever since the town made some changes, including joining the Oxford County Regional Solid Waste Corp., which has containers at the Livermore’s transfer station to collect recyclables.

From January through August, the station collected 86.5 tons of recyclable materials, not counting the metal pile, and 250 tons of trash.

In addition to more recycling, Schaub said, changes in the way the town deals with private waste haulers have added up to nearly $7,000 in savings for the town.

Last year, Livermore paid to dispose of trash and recyclables picked up by private haulers, provided they maintained a minimal recycling rate of 15 percent. That practice was eliminated early this year.

“For a year, our Solid Waste Board monitored the recycling results of the private haulers and found that their recycling rate was less than half of the transfer station rate, said board Chairman Ashley O’Brien. “The vote was unanimous. Livermore’s residents that use the transfer station and do a good job recycling should not foot the bill for the handful of residents that use private haulers and don’t do as well.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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