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Long Range Waste Disposal and Recycling Committee

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Committees: Long Range Waste Disposal and Recycling Committee

Mission:

To promote and encourage efficient long-range waste planning with a focus on recycling through the use of communication/education, facilitation, and best practices. 

Communication/Education Goals

• Set benchmarks and goals
• Update body of knowledge
• Update website
• Update flyers
• Create distribution lists
• Involve each of the schools and develop education program
• Involve recreational programs by creating recycling education program for kids involved
• Involve cable television and local media 

Facilitation Goals

• Full recycling throughout the town, including all schools and municipal buildings
• Enforcing recycling and transfer station rules, including resident permits and mandatory recycling
• Develop compost program

Best Practices Goals

• Determine what works for other towns around SWAP areas and implement best practices
• Incorporate recycling and green practices into developments around town - set an example for other towns
• Partner with Hingham League of Women's Voters, ICLE, and DEP
• Analyze commodity contracts
  

2009 Annual Report

In 2009, The LRWDPR Committee focused on increasing resident awareness of the cost of waste disposal and the savings generated for Hingham through consistent recycling.

The Committee received support from many local organizations, who included our slogan/logo “Help Hingham $ave: Recycle” in their publications to remind residents to recycle. We submitted articles to the Hingham Journal on the savings related to recycling. We created two educational displays on recycling, one for Whole Food’s “Love Our Planet” event in April 2009 and the other for the Hingham Public Library during Sept/Oct 2009.

The Committee worked to update the “What Must I Recycle” information for residents on the Town’s DPW website. (See http://www.hingham-ma.gov/publicworks/WhatDoIRecycle.html.) We also updated the information to be published in the 2010 Hingham Rotary Phone Book, to reflect the full range of materials that must be recycled.

Consistent with the goal of reducing the cost of waste disposal for the Town, the LRWDPR Committee sought and received the support of the Board of Selectmen for the proposed update to the Massachusetts Bottle Bill. This update aims to expand the types of beverage containers for which a redemption fee will be collected, to be refunded when consumers return the containers for redemption and recycling. This legislation was supported by many South Shore town administrations and is now under consideration by the Massachusetts Legislature.

The LRWDPR Committee would like to report that Hingham reduced the amount of waste we paid to dispose of by almost 500 tons in 2009. This represents a 6% decrease from 2008. However, the amount we recycled also decreased by 627 tons, or 8% from 2008, and our recycling rate remained flat. (The comparable downward trend in both waste and recycling suggests that these reductions may reflect the general economic downturn of the year.) Also, the cost of waste disposal rose 4% per ton in 2009 and thus the savings Hingham netted from disposing of less waste were small, only $1,000 below last year’s costs. However, these savings would not have occurred at all without reduced waste tonnage. As disposal costs continue to rise, this fact points to the increased role recycling must play in our fiscal future. An important goal for the Town in 2010 will be to improve our recycling rate.

Recycling is vital to managing and potentially lowering Hingham’s waste management costs. Every ton of material that is kept out of the waste stream saves the Town over $100 in hauling and incineration costs and may also generate revenue as a recyclable commodity. We want to thank residents who regularly separate and recycle their household materials and yard waste according to Town guidelines. Your efforts make a direct, positive impact on our costs and, therefore, also improve this aspect of our Town’s finances.

The Committee would like to recognize the Hingham Schools for significantly increasing the numbers and types of recycling bins on their campuses, in 2009. This allows for easier recycling of paper and beverage containers in all school buildings and on all playgrounds and fields. Also, in 2009, the Hingham Library added paper recycling bins to join the bottle/can recycling bins in the cafe and at the main entrance, for patron use. We thank the Schools and the Library for improving recycling opportunities at their locations.

There are still significant improvements we can make in our recycling efforts, overall, to keep waste disposal costs to a minimum. For example, it is estimated that nearly 50% of mixed paper and 30% of corrugated cardboard are not being recycled; these commodities are being thrown
out as waste. (See What Do I Recycle or Mass Recycles Paper for a complete list of papers that should be recycled.). We ask that all residents, schools, and Town offices work to do more to reduce our waste stream and increase our recycling. Commodity prices for recycled materials are rising again and the Town will gain more revenue with more diligent recycling.

Related to this, we are happy to announce that the Hingham Transfer Station has been modernized to include a scale for weighing loads of waste and recyclables brought to and transferred from the Transfer Station. The scale will allow DPW to more accurately track our waste and recycling streams and will enable Hingham to collect accurate fees for Construction and Demolition materials brought in by commercial users of the Transfer Station.

Our goals for 2010 include: gathering information from other Massachusetts towns on how they offset rising costs related to waste disposal and recycling, including ways to increase recycling rates and revenues generated through recycling commodities; focusing on educating residents about “precycling” or reducing waste at the point of purchasing materials; focusing on educating residents about home composting of organic materials, another waste reduction strategy; and implementing a more visible and consistent recycling program at Town Hall.