Community Corner

Recycle Rigid Plastics at Salem Drop Off

The town has received a grant with Salem and Marblehead for a plastics drop-off location in Salem.

 

The town of along with Salem and Marblehead was awarded a $10,500 grant by the Department of Environmental Protection.  This funding will allow a bulky rigid plastics recycling drop-off at the Newark Group recycled fibers facility at 53 Jefferson Avenue in Salem.  Residents of all three communities can drop off their clean rigid bulky plastics.

Johnny Gold, Senior Vice President of the Newark Group, remarked “this is the most recent collaboration between the Newark Group and the surrounding communities.  Bulky rigid plastics have become a commodity, and we welcome the opportunity to provide recycling for another challenging waste stream item.  This is a win-win for the three communities involved.”

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The program is currently scheduled to kick off on Jan. 7th from 9 am to 1pm at the Salem location.  The residents of each community will be able to drop off the accepted items during normal business hours.  Swampscott Health Director, Jeff Vaughan, stated “residents are really getting into recycling and this grant allows us to offer another way to recycle products that are not collected in the curbside recycling program and keep them from the trash incinerator.”

Bulky rigid plastics include but are not limited to laundry baskets, milk crates, broken barrels, and children’s toys, such as, sand boxes and large toys.  Non-plastic parts like metal bucket handles or metal wheel axles need to be removed prior to drop off.

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There is a flourishing recycling market for bulky rigid plastics which are dense and have a high weight-to-volume ratio. 

"We are pleased to provide a means to Swampscott residents to recycle these plastics instead of throwing them in the trash," said Martha Dansdill, chairman of the town Health Board. "It's a win-win situation."
 
The Board of Health noticed an uptick in recycling efforts during November which was the first full month of the Waste Reduction Program, in fact we had one of the best monthly recycling rates in recent history, the chairman said. 

"Although it's too soon to make any deductions about the long term recycling rate, we anticipate this uptick to continue which will reduce trash amounts and the related disposal costs to the town," she said.

To learn more about recycling rigid plastics contact the Swampscott Health Department at 781-596-8864 or the Newark Group at:  www.newarkgroup.com.

 


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