Each ton of recyclables generates $22 for the town and saves $50 in trash fees.  Making recycling publically visible at a town-wide event would make a powerful statement that recycling is the right thing to do.  

    
Sustainable Braintree’s Recycling Task Force plans to continue facilitating the recycling of bottles and cans in our public spaces.  Braintree youth athletic programs are encouraged to collect their empty bottles and cans at the athletic fields and take them home for recycling instead of throwing them away.  Portable receptacles can be obtained by contacting Sustainable Braintree.  This is one easy way to care for the natural environment we share.  Americans recycle only about one quarter of the 2 ½ million plastic bottles we use every hour, and it takes a plastic bottle 700 years to begin to decompose. 1 ½ million barrels of oil per year is used to make plastic water bottles for the U.S.  That much energy could fuel 100,000 cars for one year.  

The success of this effort in the past two years demonstrates that recycling programs at future Fourth of July celebrations and other Town events can be successful in reducing the solid waste produced.  Not only does this reduce the Town’s waste disposal fees, but it also reduces our collective impact on our environment.