For Immediate Release

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Contact: Jessica Sacco
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Manchester-by-the-Sea Waste Management and DPW to Implement New Recycling Procedures to Prevent Contamination 

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — Department of Public Works Director Charles Dam announces that Manchester-by-the-Sea is launching a spring “Clean-Up Recycling” initiative to prevent contamination.

Contamination occurs when items that are meant for the trash are put into recycling bins. The town’s recycling provider, Waste Management, which is assisting the town in its clean up initiative, explains in a short video how contamination negatively affects recycling efforts.

Beginning on Monday, April 22, “oops” tags will be left on recycling bins that contain contamination. Each tag will detail what items shouldn’t have been in the recycling so that residents can prevent it moving forward. Even if there is contamination, recycling will still be picked up this week.

On Monday, April 29 (and moving forward) “oops” tags and the contaminated bin full of non-recyclable items will be left behind. Residents will then need to rectify the issue and either take their clean recyclables to the transfer station, or wait until the following week and put their recycling curbside again. Waste Management will not come back in the same week to collect from a contaminated recycling bin.

“Our goal with this initiative is to educate residents about what is and is not able to be recycled every week,” Dam said. “This will assist Waste Management with more efficiently processing our recyclables, which benefits the environment and controls town costs associated with processing fees. ”

Recycling is mandatory in Manchester-by-the-Sea. Residents must include their recycling at the curb alongside their trash or pickup will not occur.

Reminder: due to Marathon Monday, on April 15, there is a one-day delay for trash, recycling and food scraps.

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