Paul Levy asks, finds the answer (it has to do with dog owners, not lazy employees) and then begins a conversation about a work-around.
Why city workers combine trash with recycling at Newton’s parks and is there a way to solve this?
by Greg Reibman | Oct 7, 2013 | Dogs, parks | 19 comments
I’m not sure that I buy this explanation. Citywide, it’s generally not the DPW’s job to take care of trash anymore. Homeowner and business trash is picked up by the contractor. There’s lots and lots of inappropriate stuff in recycling bins. There’s a complex procedure at the recycling plant to remove non-recyclables and contaminants. The City is saying these bins are so contaminated that it’s a waste of effort for the contractor to take them? Really?
If there is anything to the dog poop explanation, then why? Is the blue barrel routinely full?
I suspect that there is something in the DPWs procedure that makes it easier to combine both bins instead of doing the job separately.
Your truly,
Dr Obvious
Ah, if so, the plot thickens. Maybe someone in the City government can elaborate.
Paul – Good Luck getting the correct answer from City Hall.
Email received at about 5pm today:
The Department of Public Works took over the collection of trash – and a fledgling recycling program – in our City Parks and villages two years ago and is committed to making this program as successful as our curbside recycling program has been.
It has been reported that recycling containers in our parks have been contaminated with both pet feces and food waste, items which are not acceptable at the recycling collection facility. In such cases, staff has combined all of the recycling bin matter with that of the regular trash containers.
We are working with our staff to develop steps that will try and reduce this contamination, while simultaneously being more proactive in separating material in order to increase recycling. Every Friday, we will focus Parks collection on recycling in order to reduce the tendency to combine it with trash. Staff will be expected to remove minor contamination from recycling containers and place them in the trash containers. Additional signage will be placed on the containers to highlight recyclable materials and better differentiate between acceptable disposal requirements.
We appreciate the field observations as it is in all or our interests to reduce the waste stream both from an economical perspective as well as an environmental one. We’re hoping to see a difference beginning the end of this month and will continue to refine this program to make it more successful in the future.
Dave Turocy
DPW Commissioner
I’m pretty sure there’s now an opening for a Weeks Field Recycle Monitor & Contaminant Correction Specialist.
Hoss, you are incorrigible . . . but I have to admit having a bit of the same reaction. With luck, the dog owners will learn new tricks!
Are we talking about any kind of volume here? How many barrels can there be at Weeks field (and others)? Labor-wise, does it make more sense to just call it all trash?
@Terry. My sentiments entirely. Did you know that more than 3.4 million pounds of dog poop (there’s no available data for cats) are dropped by our canine friends in Newton each year. I don’t know if this includes amounts accidentally deposited in homes. Regardless. It’s still a huge amount. I don’t know anyone from outside Newton who can quote comparable figures for their city or town. Just one more thing that makes Newton such a great place to live in.
A neighbor sent me this note:
“If I were a trash pickup person, I would refuse to sort through the barrels. In that case, I think it would be better to have 2 trash barrels instead of one of each. In that way, at least we are not playing games.”
If we have homeowner goals to reach an 85% recycle rate, then the City MUST set that example. Similar to the leaf blower proposal that they wanted to impose on homeowners but EXEMPT the City, we should not have a “do as I say, not as I do” government.
In practice, they’ll see that the crew can’t sort through the bin entirely. They’ll realize that Waste Management (the contractor) has a process for that. This is all static to distract for the reality that it takes more effort to do two processes (trash pickup, recycle pickup) instead of one and that additional effort is a lot of work on this small scale of DPW (not the automated system) physically picking up at select parks.
Hoss – The two situations (residential vs. parks) are very different. Homeowners don’t usually put things they know are trash into their recycling bins. Most non-recyclables in residential bins are things like non-recyclable plastics.
By contrast, in public places, a lot of people don’t pay attention to which bin they’re using. Some are non-Newtonians who don’t know that Green=recycle (other cities use other color codings). Some just don’t care. Some use the recycling bin when the trash can is full.
At Cutler Pond in Needham, there’s a metal trash barrel marked, “Dog Waste.” It seems to be very effective. It wouldn’t help with keeping food out of the recycling barrels but it would keep out the dog poop.
I have a hard time believing that residents don’t ever put food waste in their green trash barrels. My kids can’t be the only Newton kids who needed to be trained to clean out the plastic containers before throwing them in recycling.
Maybe the City should invest in these:
http://parksparkproject.com/home.html
I like Gail’s idea (also offered by other people) to add a barrel just for dog poop. Keeping the barrels together in the parks would also reduce the incorrect disposal. Some of our lazy / unthinking fellow citizens throw their trash and/or recyclings in the nearest container, regardless of color, because they do not want to put in the extra effort to walk to the correct container.
The other problem that will not be solved no matter how many barrels are distributed is litter thrown on the ground by lazy / careless individuals. That includes the empty plastic water bottles left by the athletes and the plastic bags filled with dog poop thrown in the woods by the dog walkers. Those people should get a double fine for littering and incorrect dog poop disposal.
Another neighbor writes me:
Weeks Field is not an anomaly. The same thing with the barrels occurs at Cold Spring Park and Newton Center Playground. It seems to me the problem lies with the trucks the city uses at the fields. Unlike the specialized trucks which come to our houses, the city trucks seem to be common garbage trucks, and the city workers simply dump both color barrels together in the large collection area in the back of the garbage trucks. I doubt cross-contamination is a real concern. Up until the point when I realized the city was not recycling the bottles and cans, I had picked up literally hundreds of recyclables in walks through these parks and had been putting them in the green barrels. I gave up when I saw that my efforts were in vain. I try now to bring recyclables back to my own green barrel, but it still irks me to pass by the green barrels on the fields, or around Crystal Lake, with the prominent red bottle/can labels, and to be reminded that it has just been a sham all along. I really appreciate your reaching out here and getting the attention of the decision-makers.
If the crew is physically dumping 65 gallon trash bins used in the automated system into a truck, we got more than a poop problem — we got a worker comp problem. Someone needs to get out from their desk and evaluate.
The Hyde Playground needs a metal bin marked “Human Waste”. The trash barrels there are filled with dirty diapers, the smell of which on a hot summer day is absolutely disgusting. DPW workers empty those bins also, and should receive combat pay.
And nose plugs.
The Nonantum Place Playground recycling container has been gone for some time now. I was assuming someone had hoarded it (as happened briefly to the trash bin before we rescued it from a naughty neighbor). Hmm.
So what we need is to set up 3 way waste collection stations.
1. Barrel with a restriction plate marked Cans/Bottles Empty only NO FOOD WASTE.
2. Barrel marked Dog Waste + Diapers.
3. Barrel marked General Waste: Put Food/Paper here.
People will do the right thing, if you make it effortless and obvious. Include a positive alternative so people know exactly where to put non-recyclables.