By Molly Lovell
Editor
     Scarborough’s new automated, single stream curbside recycling program has had a successful first month according to the town’s recycling coordinator Sarah Wojcoski.
     Scarborough began service with ecomaine of Portland on May 1. Ecomaine opened their new single sort recycling system last month and Scarborough is one of the first towns in the state to go to a single stream, curbside recycling program.
     The town has seen a 37.44 percent recycling rate for May, which includes both curbside pick up and recycling at the town’s silver bullet locations. That’s an increase of 17.44 percent. In addition to the increased recycling rate, the town has seen a $35,000 savings.
     Public Works Director Mike Shaw explained that the cost savings has to do with the tonnage that was picked up and recycled. Before, the materials would have been incinerated, for which the town would have had to pay tipping fees.
     Wojcoski said the more recycling the town brings to ecomaine, the better it works out for their assessment and what they pay ecomaine, because the facility charges for waste, but not recyclables.      
     In April residents received two 64-gallon barrels, one for trash and one for recyclables. Residents also received much education before the program was launched.
     “I’m very pleased with how receptive everybody has been to the program,” Shaw said. “Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but I think a lot of that has to do with our initial efforts, and Sarah’s efforts as far as people having a sense of what to expect. They weren’t taken by surprise,” he said.


     Before the program began some residents were concerned that the barrels would not be large enough. Shaw and Wojcoski urged residents to try them out before bringing serious concerns to the department. “We said, live with them for a couple weeks and then get back to us, we’ll meet one on one, but we’re really finding we haven’t had a whole lot of call backs,” Shaw said.
     He called this new program a “learning process,” in terms of residents learning what can and cannot be recycled.
     Shaw said he wants to continue to educate the public about the program and is willing to go into local organizations to teach them about what types of recyclables are acceptable to put into the bins. In order to raise the recycling rate even more, it’s going to take such education, he said.
     Scarborough resident Seth Hanson is very satisfied with the new program. Hanson said his family was involved with Scarborough’s initial recycling program that introduced curbside recycling in 1990.
     Hanson handed out totes to residents and met with them face to face, which was a chance for him to gage how many were in favor of recycling. “Back then it was a relatively new idea to our community but it was very well received,” he said.
     Eventually the silver bullet program replaced that recycling program. Hanson said throughout his travels around the country he’s seen a variety of programs, but said Scarborough’s appears to be the best yet. “One of the reasons for the success of the latest program would have to be the fact that we have a wider variety of plastics being accepted for recycling.”
     Hanson said the process of the new system is “a fascinating combination of engineering and talent by the operators.”  He said it was apparent during week one of the system that the process was going a bit slower due to operators getting used to the new equipment, but said in subsequent weeks he’s witnessed the operators doing their job more quickly. 
     As far as the size of the containers, Hanson believes a family of four who recycles should have plenty of room in the bins for discarded items. He did say that in talking to others in town he’s heard that some people think the bins are too large to store in a “typical” garage and require  “creative organizational skills.”
     “We hope everyone in Scarborough will participate in this program and all will embrace it with open arms. It appears that the next step in our evolution will be to convert these new trucks over to propane or bio-diesel powered vehicles,” Hanson said.