If Bethel voters agree to accept this year’s capital improvement plan at Town Meeting on June 10, users of the Tri-Town Transfer Station will soon be able to combine all of their recyclable materials in one bin.

Voters in Newry and Hanover, which share the transfer station with Bethel, have already committed to their share of the cost of the $85,000 project.

The towns will be purchasing two compactors, one for MSW and one for recyclables, according to Bethel Town Manager Christine Landes.

“The percentage each town is paying is based on the most recent inter-local agreement between the towns for costs associated with the facility,” she said.

Bethel’s share is 55 percent of the total cost of the upgrade.

Under the present system, recyclables are placed into at least eight individual bins according to the type of material, including office paper, corrugated cardboard, aluminum, tin, and glass. This requires that residents either separate them before bringing them in, or spend time going from bin to bin at the transfer station.

With the new single-stream, or zero-sort, recycling program, all recyclables would be combined, then compacted before shipment to Casella’s materials recovery facility in Lewiston.

Compacting the recyclables at the transfer station will greatly reduce the number of trips needed to ship them to the facility, said Stuart Axelrod, market area manager for Pine Tree Waste, a division of Casella Resource Solutions.

“Normally a rule of thumb for loose loads vs. compacted loads is about four to one for mixed recyclable material,” he said.

Making recycling easier

“It is our hope that single stream/zero sort will encourage the community to recycle a bit more,” said Landes.

There are many good reasons to recycle. The EPA’s website states that recycling creates jobs, saves energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and reduces pressure on natural resources and existing landfills.

Combined with an education program to teach consumers the benefits of recycling and demonstrate that it does not have to be difficult or time-consuming, a single-stream program can raise recycling rates.

“People want to do the right thing and most will if they understand how to do something right and it is not expensive or complicated,” said Axelrod, who said that by far the most significant advantage of a single-stream recycling program is the convenience it offers to users.

Because inappropriate items that make their way to the materials recovery facility can be removed and disposed of there, it is less critical to avoid contaminating a load with non-recyclable materials at the transfer station.

“Zero Sort makes the decision of ‘should I put it in or shouldn’t I put it in?’ an easy one,” Axelrod said. “If it is clean and you are not sure, put it in.”

In the short term, the economic impact of increased recycling rates for towns may be slight. Axelrod said the market for recyclables tends to be somewhat volatile, and the rates currently being paid for materials often do not cover the costs of processing and transporting them.

“The value of the materials goes up and down just like the stock market, oil, scrap metal, pork bellies etc.,” he said.

But the environmental advantages of recycling, as well as the long-range costs of landfills, make it a sound option.

“The best advocacy is to view recycling as an environmental necessity that has a service cost associated with it,” Axelrod said.

Local experiences with zero-sort

The Greenwood-Woodstock Transfer Station is the most recent local facility to adopt a zero-sort recycling program, which went into effect this month.

On a recent Saturday morning, people using the transfer station seemed pleased with the new system, which allows them to empty their recycling bins into one compactor before proceeding to the next one with their household trash.

“This just got a whole lot easier,” one resident commented as she emptied her bin.

“I’m glad to be able to recycle more than just one type of plastic,” said another.

Previously, the GWTS accepted only number two plastics, but under the new system, residents can recycle plastic containers numbered from one to seven, as well as rigid plastics such as flowerpots, buckets, and children’s toys.

At the W.A.S.T.E. Transfer Station, which serves the towns of Waterford, Albany, and Stoneham, attendant Chris Purdy said single-stream recycling has been in place for at least seven years.

“We had a sort-by-bin system before,” he said. “That’s pretty labor-intensive for the attendants to keep in good order.”

The old system required three attendants at all times. With the single-stream program, Purdy said, two attendants are able to manage both waste disposal and recycling, except during busy summer weekends, when a third is added.

“It has freed us up tremendously from the burden of watching over the sorting,” he said, adding that he thinks most residents are satisfied with how the program works.

“We’re a transfer station,” Purdy said, “and the way I look at it, our job is to get this stuff out of here in the most efficient way possible.”

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