By Amanda McGregor
SALEM — Jefferson Avenue is set to receive a new red maple or Aristocrat flowering pear tree this afternoon thanks to a contest that rewards city neighborhoods that recycle the most.
In an effort to promote recycling, Northside Carting, in partnership with SalemRecycles, is sponsoring a competition in which the daily route with the most improved percentage of recycling each quarter receives a donated tree, planted by the Public Works Department.
"There is perfect symmetry to this program — trees are saved through recycling," Liz Vago, chairwoman of SalemRecycles, said in a press release.
Today's tree planting is set to take place at 2 p.m. near 210 Jefferson Ave., across from Brooks Street. The neighborhood is part of the Wednesday route that showed a 2.3 percent increase in its recycling over the previous quarter.
The contest tracks the Monday-through-Friday recycling route collection. Each day of the work week represents a different area. The routes are available online at salem.com/Pages/SalemMA_Recycling.
Salem residents recycled more than 1,700 tons of paper in the last year, according to city statistics.
Salem ranked on the low end of North Shore communities with a recycling rate of 20 percent, according to 2007 data from the state's Department of Environmental Protection. Peabody ranked lowest with 16 percent, and Ipswich was the highest with a 53 percent recycling rate.
