New trash rules boost recycling, officials say

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February 10, 2012

By Ethan Forman Staff writer The Salem News Fri Feb 10, 2012, 04:41 AM EST

DANVERS — The town's strict new mandatory recycling rules have more than doubled the amount of paper, bottles, cans and glass that haulers collected curbside during the first two weeks of the program when compared with the same period last year, officials said.

In the first two weeks of the new recycling and trash rules, which started Jan. 23, the town's trash hauler collected 126 tons of trash, Town Manager Wayne Marquis told selectmen Tuesday night.

The town collected 62 tons of recycling during the same period last year.

Marquis told selectmen it appeared the town's trash tonnage was down, too, but he did not have exact figures. Department of Public Works program coordinator Gail Bernard said the town was checking with the trash collector, JRM Hauling and Recycling, to get those figures. The town saves $70 for every ton of trash not thrown into the waste stream, Marquis said.

Marquis said the biggest complaint from residents involved trash crews leaving recycling containers in the street. Now that recycling is mandatory for crews to pick up trash, the town is asking residents to leave their recycling bins out as proof they recycled, even if their recycling is picked up first.

The recycling program had a "soft opening," Marquis said. Crews stuck green stickers to barrels if residents did not put out recycling or if they put out too many barrels or bags. The town has limited the number of barrels or bags a single-family home can throw out to three, with a weight limit of 50 pounds per bag or barrel. Multifamily homes of two to four units can put out five barrels, but they must also recycle.

The new program will be strictly enforced on Monday, and trash will not be picked up if there is no recycling or if a household goes over the trash limit. There is no limit on the amount of recycling a home can put out.

Residents who have more trash than three barrels can take their extra trash to the transfer station on East Coast Road and pay four cents a pound to dispose of it, Bernard said.

Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by email at eforman@salemnews.com or on Twitter @DanverSalemNews.

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New trash rules boost recycling, officials say

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