Medfield Transfer Station – extra days

Transfer Station Holiday Hours

Please note the holiday hours for the Transfer Station are as follows:

12/23 Tuesday – 9am � 4pm

12/24 Wednesday � 8am – 1pm

12/25 Thursday � CLOSED

12/26 Friday � 9am � 4pm

12/27 Saturday � 9am � 4pm

12/30 Tuesday � 9am � 4pm

12/31 Wednesday � 9am � 4pm

This from Megan Sullivan of the town’s Solid Waste Committee –

Styrofoam Collection at Transfer Station Jan 3

I wanted to let you know that the Transfer Station is holding a Styrofoam Recycling Event on Saturday January 3rd from 9 – 1.

Start putting aside your Styrofoam and bring it to the collection on January 3rd.

Attached you can find details about the collection.

I am excited that the Transfer Station is holding this collection to keep more materials out of the trash.  After the January collection, there will be another Styrofoam collection in May as part of Medfield Green Month.

Here are some other tips for recycling this holiday season:

Wrapping paper and tissue paper are recyclable, but only if they do not contain foil, metallic inks, or glitter. Tape is OK.   Paper shopping bags and gift bags are also recyclable, remove plastic and rope handles.  Also recyclable are paper greeting cards (except those with photos on photo paper, foil, wire, glitter or button batteries), envelopes (plastic windows are OK, exclude any with foil liners), catalogs, calendars, corrugated cardboard boxes and paperboard gift boxes. When opening or wrapping presents, keep paper grocery bags, a paper lawn and leaf bag, or a recycling bin handy to collect mixed paper recyclables.

Don’t include the following items in Transfer Station recycling: ribbons, bows, tinsel, holiday lights, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, polystyrene (Styrofoam), plastic bags, and plastic “blister pack” packaging that requires scissors to open, photo cards/photos.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

Megan

Styrofoam Collection for Recycling

Saturday January 3rd, 9-1 at the Transfer Station

Start saving your Styrofoam for this collection! We know the holidays bring lots of packages and packaging so the Transfer Station is sponsoring this special Styrofoam collection day to divert this bulky material from the waste stream.

ReFoamIt takes any clean foam that has the recycling symbol 6 in the triangle with PS underneath it. 

• Packing blocks
• Produce and meat trays with the recycle symbol in the triangle (biodegradable trays do not have a recycle symbol)
• Take out containers (please rinse and display a #6 recycling symbol)
• Hot cups such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Honey Dew and Cumberland Farms
• Foam egg cartons
• Foam coolers
• Trays
• White insulation sheets

Other items for collection

• #4 Polyethylene foam
• #5 Polyfoam
• Packing peanuts and bubblewrap will be accepted (bagged separately from your foam)

ReFoamIt does NOT take the following: Plastic utensils, Soft foam such as pillow stuffing, Foam cups infused with cardboard or paper such as McDonalds’ McCafe and Burger King (ice tea cup), Biodegradable produce and meat trays (for example, GenPak without the recycling symbol), Food containers without the number 6 recycling symbol, Cardboard Egg Cartons, Soft foam plastic, Hard plastic food containers, Food containers with plastic film attached (some ground turkey comes in these containers), Blue or Pink insulation sheets. See www.refoamit.com for further information.

A family-owned business in Leominster, ReFoamIt grinds and densifies the foam, which can then be processed to make consumer products such as picture frames, rulers and other products.

Medfield’s Single Stream recycling does not accept Styrofoam and if it is not recycled in a special collection, it will be incinerated along with the tip-floor trash.

The ReFoamIt truck will be at the Transfer Station on Jan. 3, from 9 – 1. Since there will also be the regularly-scheduled electronics collection on Jan. 3, the Styro/foam collection may be located within the area designated for the Swap Area in warmer weather. Additional information is available at DPW Town Garage office.

From Nancy Irwin –

Hi, All,   Many helpers came down to SWAP on Weds., and it was a beautiful day, and much was accomplished.  Most of the rolling carts, most of the covered bins, 6 ski-signs and 3 umbrellas were packed up and went into Winter Storage.  In addition,  MANY boxes were wrapped up and sent to Goodwill and much fabric was sent to Schools and other charity.  WE STILL HAVE LOTS TO DO.   Please come on Friday, and Sat. and Sunday, anytime from 9-4.   Tents will be taken down and sent to storage, most likely large tent on Friday and small tent on Sunday.  Thus, all items need to be removed from tents, much more needs to be wrapped and sent to Goodwill, and shelves need to be decluttered.  If you could bring any cardboard boxes to SWAP, that would be helpful. We also need to trash the display tables, so we need muscles. Of course, new items keep arriving daily, so no telling how much work there really will be. It’s Halloween, so dress appropriately!   See you tomorrow!   Nancy

This from Nancy Irwin –

Hi, All,   SWAP is closing for the Season this coming weekend.  Due to expected bad weather on weekend, we will begin the dismantling of tents and umbrellas on Weds., Oct 29 and Fri. Oct 31.  We will continue the remainder of work on Sat, and Sun, Nov 1 and 2.  The hours are 9-4.   ANY help that you can provide for this very worthwhile endeavor will be much appreciated.  We could use trucks, trailers, vans, to be able to transport tents, umbrellas, bins, carts, and other supplies to our storage facility here in Town.   Come one, come all!!!   Thanks,   Nancy

Today’s EfficientGov.com newsletter has this article –

MA to Ban Commercial Food Waste

What Happened?
Starting October 1, 2014, Massachusetts will implement a commercial food waste ban on institutions that produce more than a ton of food waste weekly. Organizations such as supermarkets, food producers and hospitals will no longer be allowed to send discarded food waste to the state’s landfill.

The Goal
The Massachusetts commercial food waste ban will apply to around 1,700 institutions statewide. These organizations will have to donate any salvageable food discards, and send the rest of the waste to an anaerobic digestion facility, a plant to convert the waste into energy or a farm for animal food.

Massachusetts enacted the ban as part of an overarching strategy to reduce waste statewide by 80 percent by 2050. The Department of Environmental Protection reports Massachusetts generated and disposed of 4.9 million tons of solid waste in 2011. Food waste alone accounted for 17 percent of this waste, and organics another 8 percent, and have thus become the target of the ban.

Because landfills take up valuable space and emit greenhouse gases, they represent an inefficient form of waste management. By keeping useful, organic materials out of landfills, Massachusetts hopes to find green sources of energy to be dispersed throughout the community.

When waste is sent to an anaerobic digestion facility, microbes bread down the material and generate biogas that can be used as an energy source for industrial processes or to create electricity. The biogas can also be applied to a combined heat and power system to produce electricity and heat at the same time. With an extra step, biogas can be transformed into compressed natural gas to fuel more efficient vehicles.

Logistics
Massachusetts is providing up to $1 million in grants and technical assistance to participating organizations involved in managing the organic waste including farms, wastewater treatment plants and anaerobic digestion facilities. The Massachusetts Water Resource Agency has been awarded $100,000 to build out its wastewater treatment plant.

In addition, the state created an outreach program to help organizations understand and comply with the new waste disposal bans. The program’s web-based resources offer technical assistance, information hotline and a database of resources. There is also a Recycling Loan Fund available for organizations interested in increasing their recycling infrastructure, with a strong focus on repurposing organic materials.

Ban on Organics
American Recycler reported there are a growing number of states and cities pushing for bans on organic waste entering landfills.  Other communities banning food waste from landfills include:

• Connecticut
• Vermont
• New York City
• Seattle
• San Francisco
• Portland

In New York City, for example, a ban was placed on institutions generating more than one ton of food waste per week from dumping in landfills. The organizations must send their scraps to composting facilities or an anaerobic digester for conversion into energy. The ban is expected to alter the management of 30 percent of the city’s commercial organic waste, or 250,000 tons annually, while impacting just 5 percent of the city’s generators of food waste.

The Evolution of the Landfill
EfficientGov has reported on a variety of projects that aim to reform landfill usage, many of which involve public private partnerships to enact the policies.

This afternoon Mike Sullivan shared with the selectmen the following good news (trash down and recycling up) on the figures for solid waste and recycling rates for the last four fiscal years (the town’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June30):

From Medfield Green’s Megan Sullivan –

Have you been to the swap at the transfer station yet this season? It is a busy place…busier than last year.

There is a dedicated group of volunteers who work to keep it neat and at the end of the day work to minimize the number of items that are put in the trash for incineration. All items that can be are sorted for a few charities or recycling.

This week in particular they are short staffed for the clean-up on Saturday. It starts around 2:30 and they are usually done in an hour. Can you help?

Volunteers help all day but the clean-up time is particularly important.

If volunteers aren’t available to do the clean-up, EVERYTHING ends up in the TRASH. And that is a bummer for so many reasons.

It’s going to be a beautiful afternoon tomorrow. Why don’t you come meet some new friends!

You can stop by anytime and help. Just look for a volunteer. If you can’t help this week, could you or a family member volunteer another time? For more info contact N.nancyirwin@verizon.net

Megan Brott Sullivan