Mattapoisett residents are being asked to improve their recycling practices ahead of a new program that entails a curbside visual inspection of residents’ recycling bins on recycling day.
But don’t start calling them the “recycling police” just yet.
Mattapoisett Health Agent Dale Barrows intends on soliciting the services of some active seniors who sign up for the Senior Work-Off Abatement Program to travel across Mattapoisett to designated areas each recycling day to lift the lid on your recycling bin to get a peek at whether you’re an offender of contaminated recycling – un-rinsed plastic, glass, and metal cans, or the presence of items that just don’t belong in the bin, such as plastic coat hangers or plastic bags.
With the help of a $22,000 state-funded Smart Recycling Grant, Mattapoisett will first establish a public outreach educational initiative through postcard mailings, the printed media, and television programming that will guide Mattapoisett residents specifically on what is allowed and what is not allowed into the recycling bin.
The first mailing will be sent out in the summer during the July tax bill cycle. The Board of Health is considering at least one public educational meeting on recycling and the Town’s educational outreach, and hopes that, like Fairhaven’s claim of an 82% reduction in recycling contamination after implementing its own Smart Recycling program, Mattapoisett will see similar positive results.
The board viewed a draft of that postcard during its January 22 meeting, with a couple of tentative updates pointed out by Assistant Board of Health Agent Kate Tapper.
Tapper said the public needs to be updated on some items that are no longer accepted into the recycling stream, such as medication bottles, and those small plastic film windows on envelopes now need to be torn out and thrown away before being placed in the recycling bin.
“So, it gets a little bit confusing,” said Tapper. “It’s gotten very, very specific on what you can and what you cannot put in.”
Some are still bagging recyclables in plastic bags, said Health Agent Dale Barrows – a definite no-no and “the biggest violation” that residents are committing. This prompted Board of Health member Carmelo Nicolosi to wonder if that educational post card should feature what is NOT allowed in the recycling bin instead of what IS allowed.
The board hopes to reach the folks who are less inclined to recycle or recycle properly – those residents whose lives may be busy, as well as those “wishcyclers,” said Barrows – people who put stuff that they think should be recycled into the bin, even if those items are not allowed.
But it’s not the Board of Health’s objective to punish people for not recycling properly – after all, Mattapoisett residents are already being punished via higher recyclables disposal costs imposed by the recycling hauler, ABC Disposal, which the Town of Mattapoisett is currently fighting in an ongoing legal battle.
No, the Board of Health simply wants to educate people on how to recycle, and then follow-up by monitoring residents’ behavior, bringing awareness to those who still might not have heard, read, or seen instructions on how to recycle the right way.
“It’s going to be an educational program, first,” said Barrows. After, Barrows envisions two fit, active, willing seniors to travel through Mattapoisett to inspect people’s recycling. Those bins found to contain items that do not belong will be at the curb, and a sticker left on the bin explaining that the recycling is unacceptable, with feedback on what the resident did wrong.
The program, Tapper emphasized, is to educate specifically Mattapoisett residents, as other towns may have other recycling restrictions. Still, she acknowledged, once the program gets underway, “We’re going to get a lot of phone calls.”
“People are gonna get upset about it if [their bin] gets refused,” Barrows concurred.
“As long as they know ahead of time this is what you have to do,” said Tapper. “I think our residents want to do the right thing, but I think it’s gotten so confusing. The rules have changed.”
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Board of Health is scheduled for February 19 at 10:00 am at the Mattapoisett Town Hall.
Mattapoisett Board of Health
By Jean Perry
Very good idea!