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Health & Fitness

There's Cash in the Trash!

Swampscott residents have stepped up recycling and reduced trash over the past two months.

 

In November, Swampscott began a Waste Reduction Program (WRP) designed to boost recycling, which in turn reduces trash tonnage and the cost to dispose of this trash. Under the new program, each household is limited to three individual containers* of trash per week with unlimited recycling collected every other week. (*35-gallon barrels, or 30-gallon bags or less)

To assess the program, trash and recycling tonnage amounts are tracked each month and the numbers crunched to provide statistics, such as: the recycling rate, pounds of trash per household, monthly disposal costs, and savings realized. This data also serves to compare and contrast municipal trash management programs with one another.

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The first two months of data are in, and the results speak for themselves!

In November and December, curbside recycling increased 23% and 13% respectively, compared to the same months in 2010. This represents 31 tons of useful recyclables that were not thrown out and incinerated. Swampscott’s recycling rate jumped to 22%, up from an average of 17%.  The goal is a rate of 30-35%.

Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

During November and December household trash amounts decreased 13% and 12% respectively, compared to the same months of 2010. This represents a decrease of 103 tons of trash and an avoidance of the $82.61 per ton tipping fee.  It's worth noting that after the holidays, a time when one would expect more trash, residents stepped up their recycling efforts and reduced trash. 

In two months Swampscott saved $8,498, in other words clearly ‘there’s cash in the trash!’ The WRP is expected to provide a sustainable savings month-over-month and the data supports a waste management program that is fiscally efficient.

Stay tuned for quarterly updates!

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