Our second project is to expand and enhance the recycling efforts within our community, both with regard to the operation of our collaborative but equally important to encourage parishioners to expand their own household recycling activity. There has recently been misinformation leading some to believe that the benefits of recycling are not real. This is absolutely not the case as all local communities benefit from recycling in several ways: by reducing solid waste going to landfills and incinerators and also by receiving substantial revenue from recycled materials. Of equal importance are new recyclable categories of which many are not aware.
Recently both Concord and Carlisle have introduced recycling of food scraps, textiles and mattresses. Food scraps account for 30% of solid waste and when sent to landfills take years to degrade, generating substantial greenhouse gas emissions due to the lack of oxygen. Both towns provide places to drop-off of food scraps which are then properly composted by a third party.
For several years both Concord and Carlisle have had bins available, provided by Baystate Textiles, to be used for recycling textiles . The school systems receive $100/ton in revenue and also save about $100 in tipping & transportation. Baystate accepts all textiles (clothes in any condition, shoes, linens, fabrics, stuffed animals, etc). It picks up the materials, sorts them, donates items in usable condition to communities in need, and recycles the remainder. Usable clothing may also be donated to St Vincent De Paul which maintains a bin at St. Irene’s. We encourage all families in our collaborative to recommit to recycling and include these new categories.