by Becca Shaw Glaser January 25, 2022, The Free Press
“We are not worried about the little bit of extra peanut butter or laundry detergent left in the container. What we are seeing coming through our lines are shoes, toasters, chainsaws, pillows, leaves and garden plants (real and fake), rope and electrical cords, half-emptied soda bottles, animal parts, etc. There’s no place in the recycling stream for these materials–that’s contamination.”
— ecomaine (recycling and incineration facility in Scarborough which processes the refuse of 450,000 Mainers), Recycling & Waste Management FAQs
Recycling is energy intensive (even without having to filter through animal parts and fake geranium plants), with some items requiring much more energy than others to be turned back into useful items. Glass, for instance, needs to be re-melted to make more glass, making the energy savings from glass recycling fairly modest — 10-15%, according to the American Geosciences Institute — while recycling aluminum is wildly efficient, with a 94% energy savings compared to producing aluminum from ore. To do a full accounting, one would also have to calculate the energy needed to shuttle the recycling items from one place to another, and perhaps compare the time involved in the personal recycling process versus if that time was instead, say, used to try to force the fossil fuel industry out of politicians’ bank accounts.
While recycling may partly be a greenwashing sport that makes us feel we’re doing our job as heroic citizen environmentalists while we otherwise dauntlessly sprint toward the climate apocalypse, it’s still a relief to me that the local dumps I’ve reviewed so far even have recycling programs. For nearly two years, since the shutdown of Fiberight’s Coastal Resources of Maine trash plant in Hampden, many of the enrolled 115 Maine towns and cities have had no recycling programs. Areas affected include Bangor, Bar Harbor and midcoast towns like Cushing, Friendship, Searsmont and Waldoboro. The recyclable materials from many of those 115 towns are now stuffing landfills or being incinerated.
Dump reviews this week: Camden-Rockport, and St. George. Unfortunately, St. George, a widely admired dump, did not respond to the questions in time for publication.
Pros and Cons of the Midcoast Solid Waste Corporation: Camden-Rockport-Lincolnville-Hope (aka The Camden-Rockport Dump or MCSWC)
Pros:
1. The “Pick of the Litter” Swap Shop free store is the absolute best thing in town, our community center, our low-barrier outdoor, safe place. Free books, clothes, dishes, slightly broken things that need fixing and re-homing, patio furniture, excellent conversation, diehard volunteers. I rolled up one day last summer and found gleaming green zucchinis on one of the tables, plucked from a Swap Shop volunteer’s garden. All volunteer-run, there have been clashes over the years between dump management and the volunteers, and occasionally among volunteers, for various reasons, but overall it seems to work extremely well. It shuts down in the winter, but shivering volunteers wouldn’t be worth it.
2. Although picking is discouraged, the recycling bin set-up makes it easy to pull out and reuse all sorts of goodies. This is excellent for the environment.
3. Fix-it program fixes things up, then sells on-site at a low-ish price.
Cons:
1. The policy of having to pay a fee to bring stuff to The Swap Shop, the free store. We are supposed to pay money, on top of taxes already paid, to be part of an ostensibly free exchange of things that is infinitely keeping things out of the landfill? The claim is that the Swap Shop ends up throwing out about $200 worth of trash each month, so they want to recover these costs directly from the Swap Shop users, but A. this could lead to people just throwing their things out instead, and B. some things are services; their value is far greater than the money involved. In the case of the Swap Shop, there is the boon to the community of having a place of free exchange and connection, among wealthy and poor, and the benefits to the environment and our health in turn. Calculating the “cost” of the Swap Shop in financial terms misses the point.
2. MCSWC staff started coming once a week — usually on Friday — to dump many Swap Shop items straight into the trash. Although the Facility Manager claims staff consult with Swap Shop volunteers on what to throw out, the volunteers I spoke with did not experience it as a collaboration, and were not happy with the arrangement. The fact is that the very things that the Facility Manager mentions as needing to be thrown out are exactly what The Swap Shop is most needed for: items that need a little fixing, the things that Goodwill would immediately toss in the trash, vintage stuff never to be made as good quality again. It’s true that at a certain point, if an item hasn’t budged, Ok, they may have to go to the True Trash Cemetery, but a weekly clearing by staff means many lovely things seem to be getting prematurely trashed.
3. The recently-arrived recycling bins have taller openings, making them harder for shorter people or those in wheelchairs to access.
4. Last summer, there were yellow jackets in the bottles area; not ideal for those of us with bee allergies. Wash out your bottles!
Q & A: Mid-Coast Solid Waste Corporation (Camden, Rockport, Hope, Lincolnville)
Answered by Michael Martunas, Facility Manager.
Becca: I have gotten the sense over the years that MCSWC has a no-picking policy (yet many people still discreetly pick anyway).
Michael: Historically, MCSWC has had a “No picking/No salvaging” policy. This is primarily due to injury liability and insurance concerns. MCSWC encourages residents looking to salvage an item to speak with MCSWC staff…to safely salvage the desired item.
Becca: What percentage of what the transfer station processes is trash versus recycling, reusing and composting?
Michael: In 2020, MCSWC processed 5,716 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) and 1,562 tons of recycling. Scrap Dogs collected 8.15 tons of compost.
[Becca did the math: with these numbers, MCSW’s recycling/composting rate was 27% in 2020. However, these numbers don’t include the amount going into the landfill at MCSWC, which Michael told me was 4,870 cubic yards of material in 2020. Converting cubic yards into tons in order to calculate the most accurate facility-wide recycling rate is complicated because different materials have different weights.]
Becca: Where does the trash and recycling go?
Michael: MCSWC brings the MSW, or “trash” as you put it, to the Waste Management facility in Norridgewock, ME. Recycled materials are delivered to various facilities in the U.S. depending on the material. MCSWC has sent plastics as far south as Alabama, north into Canada, and as far west as Missouri. MCSWC has also exported materials internationally to countries such as India and China.
Becca: Does MCSWC have any interest in moving towards a single-stream recycling model (like Rockland and OHSTT)?
Michael: MCSWC bales source separated materials onsite and brokers the materials on the recycling market through the Maine Resource Recovery Association. MCSWC’s current recycling processing program provides a much more cost-effective alternative to single-stream recycling.
Becca: How has the pandemic affected the transfer station?
Michael: The pandemic has certainly led to a consistent, or slightly elevated, volume of recycling and MSW at the transfer station. Lockdowns and work-from-home policies resulted in people having more time to clean out the basement or start home improvement projects. In addition, part-time residents who would typically go south for the winter remained in the area. Lastly, on-line shopping drastically increased, resulting in an increase in cardboard, boxboard, and plastic film recycling.
Becca: Critics claim that recycling is a distraction that makes people feel good, but may not be worth doing because it can make people feel they can continue to consume endlessly, rather than putting their energy into pushing for the international political and economic changes that are needed to truly help the planet and ourselves. What are your thoughts on that?
Michael: I support recycling efforts, especially reuse and repurposing projects that minimize the creation of more waste materials. A global “standardization” of packaging practices and materials to help facilitate a consistent recycling market would be ideal, but without international, political, and economic changes this is likely an insurmountable task.
Becca: Do you expect to continue with the policy of having folks dropping off items at The Swap Shop pay a fee? If so, how does MCSWC justify requiring people to pay to engage in something which has environmental and community benefits far beyond money?
Michael: MCSWC does charge a minimum of $1.00 to drop items off at the Swap Shop. A fee schedule for large items has been in place for many years. MCSWC began more strictly enforcing this policy in 2021, and will continue to enforce this policy in the future. The fee schedule is required to cover the cost of items discarded from the Swap Shop. Not all items dropped off are reusable. For example, soiled linens, broken furniture, or items missing parts or broken will not be reused. Therefore, MCSWC is required to discard these materials and the disposal has a cost.
Becca: MCSWC administration has started throwing out a lot of Swap Shop goods on Fridays, including things that may still be able to find good homes. Do you expect this policy to continue?
Michael: Yes, this policy will continue and I believe it has contributed to the overall success of the Swap Shop in 2021. MCSWC staff monitors the items dropped off at the Swap Shop and cleans out unusable items from the drop off area and shed weekly. MCSWC staff works with the Swap Shop volunteers to determine which materials are suitable for disposal. If materials have not been picked up for a week, or are clearly broken or unusable, then they are discarded. The oversight and dedication of MCSWC staff to ensure the Swap Shop drop off area and shed remains uncluttered, organized, and maintains space for new items is paramount for the continuing success of the program.
Becca: Are there any other things you’re trying to initiate to further improve MCSWC?
Michael: MCSWC started the “ReGeneration” program at the facility in July 2021. The program is designed to divert small engines (lawnmowers, chainsaws, etc.) and bicycles from the scrap metal waste stream. MCSWC repairs the items and then offers them back to the public for a recommended donation (typically $20 for a lawnmower, $5 for a bicycle). MCSWC is also investigating a similar program for electronics such as TVs, computer monitors, stereos, etc. MCSWC is working with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to potentially develop a yard waste composting program at the facility.
Becca: What do people consistently try to recycle but shouldn’t?
Michael: The most consistent item is polystyrene, or “Styrofoam.” Unfortunately this material is not currently recyclable. A more important concern is people putting materials in the wrong recycling containers, or leaving plastics and Styrofoam inside materials such as cardboard boxes. If residents are unsure of where to place a material, MCSWC staff is on hand to answer any questions.
Pros and Cons of the St. George Transfer Station (aka St. George Dump)
Pros:
1. Everything about this dump is great. Low-key, chill, messy, fabulous. A true dream dump.
2. The dump store isn’t free, but the prices are generally lawn-sale low. It seems to work well with one person leasing use of the space and selling the items that people drop off. During the pandemic, the dump store has moved entirely outside, an open-air flea market. Yeah, things get wet, and sometimes ruined, but the emphasis seems to be on making sure that things stick around for months before they might get (noooo!) thrown out.
3. Picking seems actively encouraged here, and the stuff available for picking is vast: old paint; large mountains of plastic: five-gallon buckets labeled Lobster Bait, a metal section to die for; tech section with TVs, batteries, fans, vacuums…an old toilet section, a composting program.
4. Fresh local chicken eggs for sale in a mini-fridge.
Cons:
None. Well, something could be done to make it easier to pick out of the cardboard/glass/small plastic recycling. The windows for tossing in recycling can be a bit crowded, and aren’t easy to pick out of unless a section gets close to full.
Becca, the Dumpster Queen, encourages you to increase the sustainability of The Free Press by subscribing, then recycling or burning for heat when you’re done.