Norwich, CT...Plastic recycling pioneers

I have not posted anything in a very long time. Several topics are in the queue but a job change and time constraints have prevented time for writing. With that said, it was going to take something big to break this funk.

And big indeed... Norwich, CT, in conjunction with recycling hauler F.E. Crandall Disposal Services Inc. have a new contract under which starting July 6, town residents will be able to recycle all plastics #1-7 in their blue bins.

From The Day, 6/21/09 by Claire Bessette

With the new program, residents will be able to add small metal items, aluminum pots and pans and even aerosol cans to the blue buckets.

All plastics numbered 1 to 7 can be recycled, including plant pots and those plastic garden-plant crates or “flats,” yogurt containers, plastic eating utensils and plates, plastic CD cases and DVDs. Styrofoam and foam plastics still are out, but clear plastic vegetable and egg containers are in, along with medicine bottles and hard plastic caps.

Newspapers, advertising fliers, magazines, catalogs, phone books, hardcover and paperback books, paper of all colors and envelopes with plastic windows and shredded paper in paper bags will go into the blue buckets starting July 6.

This is truly great news. My wife and I have been trying to get this done in Waterford, CT on and off for the past six years. Since Willimantic Wastepaper Co, is involved, perhaps we will soon be able to take part since our recyclables go to the same facility.

"We can increase tonnage for recycling. We get paid (for materials) and we don't pay $60 a ton to send it to the incinerator," Public Works Director Joseph Loyacano told the City Council last week.

Exactly!

June 28, 2009 Update...My letter to the editor was published in The Day today.

Roofing materials given a second life

We've been working on a project that included removing part of our roof, and with it two layers of shingles and several roof decking boards (tongue and groove). You know, just a little weekend project ;-) So anyway, like all our projects we wanted to figure out a way to make this one as green as possible. Unfortunately, rather than putting on a metal roof or a green roof, we went with 50-year asphalt shingles. I say 'unfortunately,' because those options would definitely make us feel better about ourselves. But the rest of the roof is asphalt and this section needed to tie into the rest of the roof.

Anyone who has ever re-roofed a house knows what an incredible mess it makes. Most people hire other people to do this terrible job, there is usually a dumpster involved, and a big pile of asphalt, wood, aluminum and nails heads off to the landfill. In fact, I would be lying if I said that's not what happened when we had the front out our house re-roofed last year. But we all learn from our mistakes, and this time we did the work ourselves, and therefore took care of the aftermath ourselves as well.

The first step was to separate out the old demolished gutters and drip edge. Those we took, along with some other metal we had laying around, to Calamari Recycling in Essex, CT. We have brought several loads of metal to them in the past, and they give you a decent price for your scrap metal which they sell to companies that melt it down for re-use.

The second step was to separate the shingles from the roof boards. We didn't just scrape all the shingles off and then remove decking, instead we cut off chunks of wood and shingles. So we separated the two materials into piles, removing and collecting most of the nails along the way as well (those will head to Calamari in a subsequent trip).


Once we had the shingles separated from the wood, we drove the shingles up to a place in Bloomfield that Nicole found online. This company, Incorporated Industries, LLC, happens to be the only company in Connecticut that recycles asphalt shingles. They grind them up, separate out the nails (we were nice enough to do this for them), and sell the ground up material to companies that mix it in with regular asphalt for paving roads, driveways, etc.

The big pile of wood, which also contains scraps from the framing lumber, will be chipped up in a rented wood chipper and used for mulch.

All of these steps, in addition to re-using the bricks from the chimney we removed as a walkway for the garden, have taken what would otherwise be several loads of landfill material and turned it all into reused material.

eWaste

"The Computer Recycler" reached out to me to tell me about the new eWaste initiatives they are starting in Cromwell, CT. I encourage anyone interested to check them out:

We're working to setup programs with several towns and businesses in CT to help keep electronics out of CT's landfills.

We've recently expanded our operation to have the ability to service all of Connecticut, and now, with a recent partnership, we are not limited to just computer related eWaste; we can now accept all electronics, including TVs, monitors, and many other items most electronic recyclers do not accept. We can also now accept most appliances, refrigerators, air-conditioners, microwaves, even water-heaters... We're really excited about this expansion, and happy to do our part with going green for the state. You can check us out at www.thecomputerrecycler.com, and per your blog's inspiration, I've decided to start my own regarding CT's eWaste as well. :)

Plastic bags suck

I received this as an email forward from my Aunt Lin and thought it was very appropriate to this blog...



And then there is this story which is somewhat unrelated, but hilarious. San Francisco seems like a pretty cool place.

Let's get a plastic recycling movement going

Do you live or work in or around Middletown, CT? If so, let's get a little campaign going here. I actually don't live anywhere near there but I've given up on my town (Waterford) to do anything more advanced than they are for recycling plastics. I've posted about this before and a reader of this blog (woohoo, I have one!!!) contacted me about wanting to get something going at the recycling center in her town. I have heard Middletown has been making advances and I know that Wesleyan University has great recycling and sustainability initiatives. It would be wonderful if something... ANYTHING could be done here in CT. I didn't know about the programs in New Haven and Manchester that she mentions but I am definitely going to find out more. I've dropped off a full carload at my uncle's house in Massachusetts before, but that is really far away and a hassle for him.

Anyway, here is an email that Elisabeth Holder sent to Kim O'Rourke, the Recycling Coordinator of Middletown, CT. If anyone else is interested in joining this effort, let me know and we can see what we can get going. I have another friend in Middletown that has contacted Ms. O'Rourke about this before as well, and if enough people get involved maybe we can get some changes made. The Middletown facility has lots of room for extra containers...

Dear Ms. O'Rourke,

I have been watching for the past decade or so as the Middletown recycling program has developed and I am very pleased with the diversity of options that is available. The curbside pickup is great because it recycles so many types of paper and cardboard, as well as being convenient. I have taken items to the swap shack for re-use and regularly bring quantities of cardboard and styrofoam to the landfill. However, I am concerned that there is nowhere to recycle plastics #3-7. Would it be possible to create some bins at the landfill as a pilot program and see what happens? I have heard that Manchester and New Haven recycle all these plastics. Occasionally I take plastics to my friends' bins in New Haven, but I feel a bit guilty about doing this. There must be some way for Middletown to do this more advanced recycling, too...

I would appreciate knowing what the drawbacks are and how they might be overcome. Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
Elisabeth Holder
29 Long Lane
(Earth Science Teacher)

Recycling plastics in CT

This is a topic I am pretty frustrated about. Our town, and every town in CT, recycles #1 and #2 plastics. What about the rest? We have a pile of #3-7 plastics in our basement that we have been collecting (or not throwing in the garbage, I should say) for four years now. We used to put everything in the bin that goes out by the road on trash/recycling pick-up day until we found out from the regional manager of recycling in our area that he sorts through the materials collected, and #3-7 wind up in the landfill.

It's pathetic. We used to live in Boston, and in Boston (and as far as I know throughout Massachusetts), they recycle all plastics. My uncle lives in Mansfield and his town takes everything as well. We have made so many phone calls on this topic I can't even tell you how many people we have talked to about this issue. We tried to find places using a website called Earth911 but when we got to the place it said we could bring plastics to, it turned out to be a metal scrap yard. That was a waste of a drive to Rhode Island.

I'm, phishing here. If anyone that reads this knows any possible way to recycle these plastics in CT or surrounding states, please let me know. I have dropped off huge nags of them at my uncle's house, but I'd like to find a place I can regularly drop this stuff off and in the process get rid of the mountain of plastics in my basement.