BRATTLEBORO-Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) and Putney Road Redemption Center (PRRC) recently announced that, over the last year, 120,000 returnable cans and bottles were collected at WSWMD's Brattleboro transfer station on Old Ferry Road and redeemed at PRRC.
The reduction in weight of total recyclables saves the District $200 per ton in processing fees for single stream recycling. WSWMD's partnership with PRRC also generates revenue as Vermont's Bottle Bill requires the beverage industry to return 5 cents for every redeemable container that is returned to a redemption center.
WSWMD and PRRC donate a significant portion of those proceeds to local charities, including Project Feed, Brattleboro Boys & Girls Club, Brattleboro Rotary, and the Windham County Humane Society.
Approximately 3,000 residents purchase an annual access sticker to use the transfer station and WSWMD says it thanks the users who already take that extra step.
In order to save even more on the cost of recycling and to increase funding to charities, WSWMD encourages other recyclers to separate their returnable bottles and cans in the containers located adjacent to the recycling dumpsters.
Recyclers are also asked to separate cardboard from other recyclables since WSWMD bales the cardboard and sells it to paper mills. Another cost savings is to keep nonreturnable glass bottles out of single stream recycling and put them into a separate container. Signs direct customers to the appropriate containers, and staff will also assist.
WSWMD has a contractor that trucks the glass bottles, at no charge, to a glass recycling facility in Connecticut.
WSWMD says that every ton of cardboard and glass bottles that is kept separate also saves $200 per ton, savings that are passed on to district's 18 member towns.
WSWMD also recovers used batteries, fluorescent bulbs, paint, TVs, computers, and computer peripherals. To learn more about these programs, visit windhamsolidwaste.org or call 802-257-0272.
This Town and Village item was submitted to The Commons.