More recycling just makes Cent$

We volunteered last week at the Stamford WPCA to help the local middle school students tour the Waste Water Treatment Facility in Stamford. The staff are well organized and do a great job at the WPCA. They definitely accomplish a lot on the small plot of land where the facility is located at the South end of town.

So, it was a busy three hours with a lot to learn. Waste Water Recycling, Solid Waste Recycling, and the importance of storm water. One of the lessons:

Solid waste: Fail to recycle = Lost $$$ opportunity:

It costs the City of Stamford about $76.00 per ton to cart away solid waste. If we can maximize our recycling efforts, less money is needed to cart away solid waste and these savings could be used for other budget items.

That being said, in an effort to increase recycling, the City has placed recycling bins in all school classrooms and lunchrooms and implemented a system to track recycling collected from the schools. Nevertheless, the volume collected from the schools is disappointingly small. Why? Is it lack of awareness? Is it inconvenient? We need to get the important message of recycling to the kids.

Recycling is an easy exercise that just makes sense. The system is already set-up and increasing recycling discipline is an effortless way to maximize funds in these tight budget times.