Sustainable Braintree, Inc. appreciates the many individuals that helped its pilot recycling project for bottles and cans at Braintree’s Independence Day Celebration on June 27.  

On May 21, Sustainable Braintree’s Recycling Task Force presented a proposal to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee requesting that recycling containers for bottles and cans be made available at this year’s Fourth of July celebration.   The Task Force suggested that a pilot recycling program at this event would provide a needed service to the town (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.  

Putting this proposal into action involved a host of committed individuals.  From the Town, Bill Hedlund, Director of Recreation and Community Events, Tom Whalen, Director of the Department of Public Works and Steve O’Brien of the DPW, Recycling Consultants Jeff Kunz and Rosemary Nolan and BHS Head Custodian Tom Mahar worked together to procure receptacles and facilitate logistics.  Capitol Waste donated eighty cardboard containers, Richmond Hardware donated plastic bags to line them and Sustainable Braintree purchased brightly-colored labels (thanks to local printer, J.R. Landry).  Boy Scout Troop 22, under the leadership of Scoutmaster Bruce Hall, joined members of Sustainable Braintree in assembling the boxes before the celebration and collecting the bags and disassembling the boxes at first light (4:30 am !) on Sunday morning.  Sustainable Braintree members Eileen and Bob Campbell and Michel Johnson distributed the containers throughout the high school campus on Saturday morning and joined John Joyce for the early Sunday morning shift.  Michel Johnson donated movie tickets and other prizes to award to people who were randomly “caught recycling.”  Master of Ceremonies Bill Hedlund announced prizewinners and shared recycling “fast facts” throughout the day.
    
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.  

This year’s initial success 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 local
environment.