From: "Paul Vlach" Subject: [announce] Recycling and Solid Waste News Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 15:59:32 -0400 From: Paul Vlach, Recycling Coordinator Reply to: recycling@shutesbury.org Date: June 8, 2005 Subject: Recycling and Solid Waste News Bulky Waste Day The June 4th Bulky Waste Day was too great a success! From the opening time of 10 am, until 12:20 pm, we never reached the end of the check-in line. Two of our volunteers reviewed the loads along the roadside, with Officer Ken Hartwright keeping an eye on traffic for us. The crew of 9 working inside the Highway yard kept everyone flowing through smoothly and safely, but they came as fast as they left! After that, the stream stayed steady until we reached capacity at 1pm, and had to shut down an hour early. Thirty or more people had to be turned away. The same thing happened last Spring, so we added a fourth 40 yard roll-off for this event, and still couldn't meet demand. We'll have the extra capacity again at the October 1st Fall Bulky Waste Day, but we may have to look at limiting the number of trips each household can make, and be more strict about load sizes, in order to maintain the equity of the system. Watch for guidelines in the Fall Newsletter. Remember that our goal is to offer the convenience of in-town disposal of large items to all 1,900 residents. Every household has the option, throughout the year, of getting an annual permit from the Town of Amherst, and bringing their large loads to their transfer station. You may be rejected from our events, if your load would take up more than "your share" of space. There are potentially more than 800 households trying to fill 4 roll-off containers. You should contact the Recycling Coordinator before bringing in large loads, to avoid being turned away. We had someone with a full dump truck arrive, after we had already closed down early. Please try to work with us, to be fair to all. We want to give special thanks to our non-committee volunteers for the day, Leonard Bobrow, Graeme Sephton, Jeffrey Essig, Mari Vlach, Gregg Adams and Steve Rice. If you'd like to help out at one of our events, please let us know. It's a fun and fulfilling time, with a bunch of good people, and we always welcome extra hands! ------------------------------------------------------------- Notable summer dates: Last two bag distributions - Sat. July 2nd 10am to noon, and Tues. July 12th 6 to 8pm, both at Town Hall. Delayed pick up week - July 7th, due to the holiday on the Fourth. ------------------------------------------------------------- Crows! Our resident crows have learned to gorge themselves on Wednesdays from those tasty yellow take-out bags! They're more of a problem than wandering dogs. We strongly encourage putting your bags out at curbside in barrels, to avoid being skipped due to ripped and scattered bags. To avoid being skipped on recycling, be sure your "recycling" trash barrels have a large "R" or "Recycling" painted on all sides, so the drivers can read them from the truck. ------------------------------------------------------------- Almanacs: Be sure you found your Shutesbury Recycling Almanac in your bag supply, and keep it handy for the next several years. It should answer any questions you have on our recycling and solid waste system. http://www.shutesbury.org is still a good resource, providing the weekly calendar and other variable items. Subscribe to the town email list for timely notice of system changes or special events. ------------------------------------------------------------- With our thanks, from the Recycling and Solid Waste Committee: Paul Vlach, Chair recycling@shutesbury.org Gary Bernhard, Meryl Mandell, Ron Essig, Christy Vlach, Gary and Nancy Dihlmann, Beth McCoy, Karen Czerwonka