City urges residents to recycle
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer
Marlborough - With the 10th Anniversary of America Recycles Day as their platform, Marlborough Mayor Nancy Stevens and Recycling Committee member Peggy Ayres urged residents to recycle as much as possible.

"We're kind of using the day to thank people who already recycle and urge them to find ways they can do more," Ayres said, "while at the same time urging those people who don't recycle to give it a try."

Stevens used the Nov. 14 press conference to explain that a perfect blending of residents who do recycle and residents who don't, would be for those who already recycle to show a person yet to being recycling just how easy it is.

The national America Recycles Day is Nov. 15 of each year.

"We do so much recycling at my house that we don't use one of those small recycling bins for our recyclables, we use a big trash can on wheels," Stevens said. "What we do so it's not confused with trash is put a green recycling sticker on it."

Ayres said those recycling stickers can be picked up free of charge at the city's Department of Public Works office. All residents, whether they are homeowners or renters, can pick up a recycling bin free of charge from the DPW as well, and if a family wants a second bin because they have so many recyclables, the cost is $5, she said.

"You're saving money for the city of Marlborough every time you recycle," Stevens said. "Everything you recycle takes out of the tonnage that we have to pay to have our trash disposed of. By recycling you're doing your part to save the city money, and it's an easy and convenient way to do it. You just need to make the eff ort."

Ayres said of all the reasons there are to recycle, the cost savings it provides and could provide are the biggest.

"Massachusetts residents throw away approximately 1.5 million tons of paper every year. If we recycled half of that paper we could save $52 million in disposal costs," Ayres said. "Recycling also conserves energy and saves resources. Last year recycling saved nearly 17 million trees and saved enough energy to power 820,290 homes for an entire year.

"Recycling reduces greenhouse gases. Recycling helps Massachusetts residents reduce by 2.6 million metric tons the amount of carbon dioxide released annually. That's like taking 1.6 million passenger vehicles off the road for a year," Ayres said. "Recycling means jobs. There are 19,000 Massachusetts residents employed in recycling businesses in Massachusetts with a payroll of $55.7 million."

Ayres, with the help of Doran Crouse, the city's assistant commissioner of public works-utilities, gave a brief demonstration about what can be recycled around the home and just how easy it is.

Ayres emptied the contents of a plastic shopping bag into a green recycling bin that Crouse was holding. Some of the contents included yogurt, orange juice and milk containers, but also glass spaghetti sauce jars, plastic shampoo containers and cardboard toothpaste boxes.

"I think people realize all the stuff in the kitchen that's recyclable, but there are cans and jars and container and boxes all over the house that can be recycled," Ayres said, "as well as things like cereal and cake mix boxes, junk mail and sales catalogs. Take a good, long slow walk around your house, and a good long look and you'll be amazed at how many things in your home are recyclable."