What a great idea! It’s definitely worth trying to get it recycled. Belinda
> On Mar 3, 2023, at 3:14 PM, Jeffrey C. Mizrahi <jeffrey.mizr...@verizon.net> > wrote: > > Hello LT, > > I saw Belinda's piece on touring the WMM facility, many thanks for that. > There is one item I have to disagree with, that being the recycling of > shredded paper. It can indeed be recycled if it's disposed of correctly in > the recycling bins. Please read through the following link: > > https://www.afandpa.org/news/2022/how-do-you-recycle-shredded-paper#:~:text=Yes > > Best, > Jeff > > >> >> On Wed, Mar 1, 2023 at 2:36 PM Belinda Gingrich <belinda.gingr...@gmail.com >> <mailto:belinda.gingr...@gmail.com>> wrote: >>> <maxresdefault.png> >>> WMM Facility Tour >>> youtube.com >>> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqfWB1oZo8>WMM Facility Tour >>> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqfWB1oZo8> >>> youtube.com <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqfWB1oZo8> >>> >>> In October a small group of volunteers from the Green Energy Committee and >>> Mothers Out front toured the facility where Lincoln’s recyclables go. The >>> Waste Management Material Recovery Facility (WMM) in Billerica is a former >>> Boston Globe building that has been repurposed. >>> >>> The WMM facility takes in “single-stream” recycling and separates it into >>> cardboard, plastic, paper, steel, aluminum, and glass. Once separated, >>> materials are crushed and baled for transportation to separate, specialized >>> recycling facilities. Due to the high cost of transporting glass (it’s >>> heavy), Lincolnites separate glass from our other recyclables, as the glass >>> is transported directly from Lincoln to a glass recycling facility. >>> >>> As we climbed up four stories of cat walks, we watched materials moving on >>> the conveyor belts. First, large cardboard is pulled out by handThen >>> magnets remove steel materials. Plastic is removed next with a vacuum, >>> while paper is left to fall into a lower level in the facility. Lastly, an >>> eddy current separator pulls out the aluminum. Each material that is >>> separated from the stream falls into a separate baler to be packaged for >>> further transport. >>> >>> Our tour lasted almost 4 hours and I wished I had brought my noise >>> canceling headphones! We couldn’t hear anyone more than two feet away. The >>> tour lasted so long in part because the machinery spends a large amount of >>> time turned off as the employees cut out items that can’t be recycled at >>> this facility that have gotten tangled in the machinery such as garden >>> hoses, plastic bags, and baling twine. >>> >>> How does the system work? Lincoln pays a hauling fee to have our recycling >>> hauled to WMM. WMM weighs the containers before and after dumping and bills >>> Lincoln for the weight of stuff we send them. WMM separates the materials >>> and receives money for the recycled material. Right now cardboard is the >>> most valuable recyclable.. WMM then sends each contributing Town a portion >>> of the proceeds in proportion to the weight they contributed. We don’t live >>> in a vacuum. What we recycle matters but what the other towns do also >>> impacts how often the machinery is down and how much valuable material is >>> recycled. >>> >>> So what’s the take away? >>> Don’t bother recycling shredded paper or small scraps. It flies about like >>> confetti.Any paper smaller than 2”x2” will most likely get lost in the >>> system and end in the trash containers that reside under the conveyor >>> belts. >>> Reattach caps and lids before recycling. The caps on water bottles are >>> recyclable but will fall through the cracks unless secured on the water >>> bottle before recycling. >>> >>> Avoid tanglers. Plastic bags, twine, and fabric tangle in the machines and >>> clog up the conveyor belt. Find specialized recycling drop boxes for these >>> materials. When in doubt, throw it away instead. >>> >>> We will have more articles to follow! Check out RecycleMA.gov >>> <http://recyclema.gov/>-- >>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org >>> <mailto:Lincoln@lincolntalk.org>. >>> Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>> Change your subscription settings at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>> >>
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