By Molly Lovell
Editor
     Starting next week, Scarborough residents will be receiving two, 64-gallon carts in preparation of the town’s new curbside trash and recycling program that will commence May 1.
     Crews will be distributing the carts from Monday, April 16 through Friday April 20 from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
     Scarborough will be the first community in Maine to go to an automated single stream, curbside recycling program. Single stream recycling is a method where residents don’t have to separate their recyclable items into different categories.
     Trucks will use large, metal arms to empty the carts, reducing the amount of people needed to collect trash.
     Public Works Director Mike Shaw said the program is loosely patterned after Saco’s, which uses a duel stream automated system for their pickups. The only other municipality in Maine to offer curbside pick up is South Portland. He said one would have to look to Goffstown, N.H. to find a program exactly like the one Scarborough is about to embark on.
     The program’s May 1 start date will coincide with the opening of ecomaine’s new single stream recycling facility. Ecomaine, formerly Regional Waste Systems, is a non-profit, municipally owned solid waste disposal organization.
     Shaw said the town began considering the practice during the fiscal year 2006-2007 budget process. “It went back and forth and we looked at a lot of different scenarios,” he said, and added, “This was just the next step.”
     Currently residents must drive their recyclables to one of six “silver bullet” locations, which in recent years have yielded a 20 percent recycling rate.
     “We expect that number to easily double,” he said of the new program.
     Shaw said the carts will be easy for residents to handle and maneuver. The carts can withstand 30-mile per hour wind gusts and they are also sealed well to keep moisture out and animals from picking through the trash. “It’ going to clean the community up,” he said.
     Shaw said the public works department has heard a lot of positive feedback from residents, and also some concern.
     “We’re hearing concern about the 64-gallon carts not being big enough,” he said.
     Joint recycling coordinator for Scarborough and Saco, Sarah Wojocoski said the carts should be large enough for a family of five.  “You’ve got a lot of space to get rid of materials,” she said.
     Shaw is telling concerned residents to try the carts they are given for a couple of weeks before bringing more serious concerns to the department.
     “Obviously it’s a big change. We understand that and appreciate peoples’ cooperation with the program and we’re willing to help them work through difficulties and questions, but I really think it’s going to be a good program,” he said.
     Wojocoski said another concern residents have expressed is whether or not they should be putting bags in the carts. She said for cleanliness reasons, it’s better to bag their trash, but that residents do not have to bag their recyclables.
     In order to answer questions from residents in a prompt manner, Wojocoski will be in Scarborough full-time for about a month. She will be available full-time during the last two weeks in April and the first two weeks in May.
     In terms of those residents who live on private roads, Shaw said they have two options. They can either do what they are currently doing, which is put their trash at the nearest intersecting public road, or they can contract with Pine Tree Waste for $2.50 per week.
     “When you talk about convenience, it’s still a good deal,” he said.
     Shaw said other communities are going to be looking at Scarborough to see how they do with this new process.
     “The public works department is very excited about the program. It’s a service that people are really going to come to enjoy and rely on. We know everyone’s lives are busy and that the more convenience there is, the better things go – this is going to be a huge step as far as that goes,” Shaw said.
     A video demonstrating the new system is available at the town’s Web site, www.scarborough.me.us.