|Debra Smith|
Picture this. TJ’s family is serious about recycling. They compost their food scraps and yard waste in a compost bin in their yard. In their garage, there’s an entire section (about 80 square feet) dedicated to trash and recycling, where they have set up separate bins for paper/paperboard, corrugated cardboard, glass, cans, milk jugs, other plastics, and returnable drink containers. In addition, they have a bin for donations and other textiles that aren’t usable by Goodwill or the Salvation Army. And there’s a barrel for trash. TJ estimates that between sorting, driving to the transfer station weekly to place all of these different materials into the appropriate bins, they spend about 90 minutes per week, or 78 hours per year. Here’s a modest estimate of the real costs for one household.
Notes:
• Bins are projected to last 10 years.
• Space rental costs based on current warehouse rates in southern Maine, currently ranging from $6 to $14/SF on loopnet.com
• 2022 value of volunteer time from https://independentsector.org/resource/value-of-volunteer-time/
Since recycling does not involve skilled labor, half of the current rate of $29.94/hour is used.
We know that every household in New Gloucester doesn’t recycle, it’s a lot of work! And you need the infrastructure to manage it. We know that currently the transfer station is not recycling most of what residents put in the recycling bins, so even serious recyclers are wondering why they put in the effort.
If every household in New Gloucester DID recycle like TJ’s family, the cost for all of those households combined would be well north of $4 million per year. This needs to be factored in as the town plans for modifications to the transfer station, and strategies for encouraging recycling.
