Residents react positively to new recycling program

Date: 3/15/2011

March 16, 2011

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE — One week after announcing the city would start a single stream recycling system next month, the response from residents has been positive.

"For the most part it has been well received," Stanley Kulig, director of the Department of Public Works, told Reminder Publications.

If there has been a problem, it has been that people want to use the big blue bins right now, he said. There is still one standard recycling week in March and the single stream service will not begin until the first week of April, Kulig explained.

Single stream recycling means residents will not have to separate glass, paper, metal and plastics. All of the household refuse that can be recycled will be placed on one container.

Mayor Michael Bissonnette said at several neighborhood meetings last year that single stream recycling would mean greater participation in recycling, which in turn would lengthen the life of the landfill used by the city. The longer the city can use the landfill off Burnett Road, the more money it can save, he explained.

Single-family homes will receive a barrel and at some multi-family dwellings, a barrel will be at least initially shared, Kulig said. He has already received requests from households for an additional recycling barrel. He said these would be considered after all of the barrels are distributed and after recycling begins.

The new recycling program will also save the city money by taking three trucks that had been used to pick up separated recyclables off the road, he said. The city will use its existing packer fleet to pick up the materials.

Taking more vehicles off the road is important with rising fuel costs, Kulig explained.

When the existing packer trucks need replacing, they will be replaced with side-loading trucks that will allow for multiple uses and potentially greater savings, he added.