NewsFlash
November 2015
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Got leaves? Here’s what to do with them
It’s officially Fall. The leaves know it — they’re already tinged with a Crayola box of color and launching themselves from the treetops to your yard. And those once-glorious gardens are starting to look a little scraggly. Here’s what to do with all those heaps of leaves and garden debris:
NOTE: Non-woody leaf, garden, and yard trimmings only are allowed in the yard debris pile. No plastic bags, rocks, sod, trash, or pumpkins.
CSWD Drop-Off Centers
Leaves are accepted at no charge at all locations (Burlington, Essex, Hinesburg, Milton, Richmond, South Burlington, and Williston). Note: Williston is the only DOC that allows use of dumping mechanisms for leaves.
Special hours for leaves only at Essex & South Burlington:
Sunday Nov. 1 & 8, 8am – 4pm
Green Mountain Compost (1042 Redmond Rd., Williston)
Mon-Sat 8-4 through Nov. 14. Winter hours begin Nov. 15: Mon-Fri 8-4. Special Sunday hours for leaves only: Nov. 1 & 8, 8am – 4pm
Dumping mechanisms allowed.
Up to 6 cubic yards. Dumping mechanisms allowed.
Tue, Thur, Fri, Sat 8am – 4pm
Special hours on Monday, Nov. 9 for leaves only: 8am – 4pm
Winter hours begin Nov. 15: Open Tue-Fri 8am – 12pm; Sat 8am – 4pm
Burlington curbside leaf pick-up
is on your recycling day during the week ofNovember 16. Leaves will be picked up only if they are in compostable paper bags. This service is provided by Burlington Public Works (863-9094) for residents. Not available for condominiums, apartment complexes, or commercial properties.
Colchester residents may bring leaves only to Airport Park (off Colchester Point Road in the Malletts Bay area) Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 7 & 8, 8am – 4pm. Leaves may be loose or in compostable paper bags.
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Going out to eat? Choose a restaurant that no longer forks over food scraps to the landfill
There are many ways to keep your landfill legacy to a minimum — one of our favorites is going out to eat! But not just any ol’ place will do: We choose restaurants, cafes, delis, pizza joints, bars, hotels, and grocers that are keeping their food scraps out of the landfill. These folks are committed to being good neighbors and good stewards of our community by:
– Donating quality fresh or prepared foods to local food shelves for hungry families,
– Providing food waste to local farms to feed their pigs or chickens,
– Generating energy by sending food scraps to an anaerobic digester, or
– Sending all of their food scraps and plate scrapings to Green Mountain Compost to be turned into fabulous local compost and other soil amendments!
We’re now recognizing these food-based businesses and listing them on our website to make it easier for you to find them! Check out CSWD’s list of food waste fighters and let them know you appreciate their efforts! |
November is “Bring us your hazardous leftovers” month!
Let’s see: Cold wind and rain, the leaves are mostly on the ground, the wood is stacked, the mosquitoes are long gone — yep, it’s beginning to look a lot like … that other season is close at hand. Take a look around and you’ll probably find plenty to add to the pre-winter To Do list — like getting rid of those buckets, bottles, and bags of leftover hazardous products in your basement, garage, and shed.
What’s hazardous waste? Hazardous waste includes any unused product that is poisonous, reactive, corrosive, or flammable. You can easily identify hazardous products by reading packaging labels: look for key words such as Warning! Danger! Poison! or Caution! Improper disposal of these products poses a risk to human health and the environment. Examples include:
Automotive supplies – Antifreeze, brake & engine oils, solvents, etc.
Health & beauty aids – Hair dyes & sprays, nail polish & remover, etc.
Home improvement – Glues, paint & thinner, tars, stains, etc.
Household cleaners – Bleach, drain openers, polishes, ammonia, etc.
Garden supplies – Fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, poisons, etc.
… and more!
If you weren’t able to make it to our mobile hazardous waste collection unit while it was roaming around the county, you can still get rid of your hazardous leftovers Bring it to the Environmental Depot any time of year — free of charge for Chittenden County residents (NOTE: Some charges apply to businesses and out-of-District households.)
Got oil? We’ll take it!
Whether you’re changing your oil for routine maintenance or getting your motorcycle ready for a long winter’s nap, when it comes time to dispose of that used oil, bring it in to any CSWD Drop-Off Center or CSWD’s Environmental Depot. We use some automotive oils and fluids to heat our facilities, so you’re helping keep us cozy during the frosty weather when you bring us your used oil!
Here’s the scoop on bringing us your used oil:
– Oil containing contaminants, including water, gas, diesel, antifreeze, etc. must be brought to the Environmental Depot. CSWD’s Drop-Off Centers can accept up to 15 gallons per day of oil that does not contain contaminants. Container size limit: 2 gallons. Maximum container size at the Depot: 55 gallon drums. Please call ahead for large quantities or if the material comes from a business.
– Containers should be labelled and clear or translucent, if possible.
– We limit the size of containers and quantity of oil we accept for safety and capacity reasons.
– Empty plastic motor oil bottles are NOT recyclable and should be thrown out with your regular trash.
Accepted fluids:
– 2-cycle oil
– crankcase oil
– differential fluid
– gear oil
– hydraulic fluid
– motor oil
– power-steering fluid
– transmission fluid
CSWD’s Environmental Depot
1011 Airport Parkway, South Burlington – Hours: Wed-Fri 8-2; Sat 8-3:30.
Residents — No charge for Chittenden County residents;
Businesses — Some fees apply; appointment required. Call 865-4663.
CSWD Drop-Off Centers: Find locations and hours here.
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What’s a Waste Warrior?
You are!
Are you a rampant recycler who carries newspapers home from vacation because you couldn’t find a recycling container? Do you cringe when you see newspapers or plastic bottles in garbage cans at work? Are you interested in learning how you can reduce the amount of household waste you send to the landfill? Then YOU, my friend, have all the makings of a Waste Warrior.
If you’ve ever wondered why the rules are different from place to place, why paper cups and plastic cutlery can’t be recycled, or if a particular item belongs in the trash, compost, or recycling bin, come find out the answers at this workshop.
Participants will become certified Waste Warriors who are eligible to earn free admission to various local concerts and festivals by volunteering to help attendees get their waste into the correct container.
Upcoming training sessions:
Date: Thursday, November 12
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Already a Waste Warrior?
Click here to see upcoming volunteer opportunities.
We’d love to hear about the other ways your training has helped you make a difference! Have you started composting at home or at work? Taught neighbors or co-workers about plastic bottle tops or paper cups? Talked with your favorite restaurant about the types of containers they use for leftovers? Changed the way you pack your lunch? Click here to let us know so we join you in celebrating the change.
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Recycle fabric scraps at CSWD Drop-Off Centers
Good news! Worn-out clothing and scraps of fabric are no longer condemned to the landfill.
For the past few years, CSWD has accepted fabric only if it was large enough and in good enough condition to be resold by a local charity. Now that we have begun working with the Salvation Army to wrangle your old Wranglers, we can also accept those t-shirts ripped beyond use, and scraps of fabric from your sewing projects — as well as the usual resellable, still-wearable wears. Items no longer usable are recycled into products like insulation, sound-proofing, and the like. Last year, we kept about 128,000 pounds of textiles out of the landfill through CSWD’s Drop-Off Center program. Now that we can accept more types of fabric, we expect that number to increase.
What is acceptable: Clean, dry clothing, bedding, linens, draperies, curtains, paired shoes, hats, handbags, paired gloves or mittens, belts, towels, undergarments, bras, hats, scarves, stuffed animals, clothing, paired shoes in wearable condition, and fabric scraps.
Please bring them in a sealed plastic bag and let the Drop-Off Center operator know what you’re dropping off.
What is NOT acceptable: Rugs, carpeting, rope, or items that are dirty, musty, damp, or mildewy.
Limits: Up to a cubic yard of items and material, from households only, please. The program is not designed to manage large loads or material and items from businesses. Businesses and those with large loads should work directly with organizations that accept this material. You can find a list here, on our Reuse & Donation Options web page, or contact our Business Outreach Coordinator for potential outlets: biz@cswd.netor (802) 872-8100 ext. 237.
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$30,000 available to fund your waste reduction project!
Got a great idea for a waste-slashing project at your business, school or community? Need some new recycling bins to meet upcoming recycling bin/trash can pairing requirements?
CSWD has $30,000 in grant funding available on a first-come, first-served basis to incentivize large and small community, business, and school waste reduction projects, and to help fund the construction or purchase of new waste stations, recycling bins and food scrap collection bins.
Past funding has gone to schools, communities and businesses for:
– installing water-bottle filling stations to reduce single-use plastic bottles
– building on-site compost bins at schools and residential communities
– building and purchasing sort stations to keep recyclables and compostables out of the landfill
– purchasing recycling bins to pair with publicly accessible trash cans
– and more!
Get all the details on these funding opportunities and more on the Grants and Funding page on our website, and let us know how we can help!
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It’s on! Get in to win these recycling challenges for schools
by Rhonda Mace, CSWD’s School & Youth Outreach Coordinator
CSWD would like to kick off America Recycles Day by encouraging all Chittenden County schools to take the challenge to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! Two opportunities to do just that will begin November 15th :
Trex Challenge: Filmy plastic makes up over 3% of residential trash sent to the landfill each year in Vermont. Trex is challenging schools to collect and recycle as much filmy plastic as possible. The school that recycles the most plastic wins!
Word on the street says that other solid waste districts in Vermont would like to go head to head with Chittenden County schools in the Trex Challenge. Trex is a company that makes plastic lumber out of recycled filmy plastic, like plastic grocery bags and the plastic wrap around paper towels and toilet paper. This lumber is often used to make park benches, picnic tables, decks, and docks.
Don’t worry if you’re a small school — the winner is determined by how much is recycled per capita. What a great opportunity to teach a little math by figuring out what “per capita” means! Visit the Trex Recycling Programs page for more info and to sign up! All participants get fun tools and a chance to win a park bench made from recycled-plastic lumber!
Green Cup Recycle Challenge: Last year The Sustainability Academy in Burlington took on the Green Cup Recycle Challenge and scored a whopping 93.5 out of 110 points to earn them the title of Recycling Heroes. They placed 7th out of 60 schools! During this four-week Challenge, schools compete for Bin Points by “recycling right” — improving recycling compliance rates and decreasing the amount of unrecyclable items found in the recycling bin. Bonus points can be earned for additional waste reduction efforts such as composting or paperless communications. Can your school beat The Sustainability Academy’s score? I dare you to try!
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Compost Challenge winners … the next one could be you!
Where else can you compost food scraps and end up with a $25 gift certificate to your favorite restaurant? Right here at CSWD! Just ask Chris and David, both from Jericho, winners of the monthly CSWD Compost Challenge.
What’s the Compost Challenge? You bring your food scraps to any of CSWD’s Drop-Off Centers or Green Mountain Compost. We give you a punch card. Every time you bring in food scraps your card gets punched. At 5 punches, you turn in your card and you’re entered to win. We’ll even give you a starter food scrap collection kit if you need one! “I’ve already got another card nearly filled out,” said David, when I called to tell him he had won. Why does he bring us his food scraps? “We’ve been composting for years and put it in our garden. You folks take the bones, meat, and fats that we can’t compost. If you throw the scraps away, you’re throwing away good stuff. Some people who don’t garden don’t have a need for compost themselves, and don’t see how important it is to the food chain.”
Chris notes that he has about a third less trash to send to the landfill because food scraps are separated from trash in his household. “We’ve been composting at home for many years, and have been bringing our meat to the Richmond Drop-Off Center since CSWD started accepting it.”
Both fellers will receive a $25 gift certificate to restaurants in Chittenden County that compost their own food scraps. Drop on by any Drop-Off Center and find out how you can participate in the challenge! |
Food hacks for a more grateful Thanksgiving
Who hasn’t winced, at least inwardly, at cost of food as we fork over our hard-earned cash at the checkout counter? Here’s another wince-inducing scene: Imagine paying for all those groceries, lugging them home, then throwing a quarter of it away.
Here’s a paint-by-numbers picture of food waste Chittenden County:
– Residents from 62,587 households send nearly 29 MILLION pounds of food waste and compostable paper to the landfill each year.
– That’s 462 pounds per household, per year (that’s 38 pounds per month!)
“Well, that’s not what happens in my household,” you might say. And that’s good newsand bad news. Here’s why:
The good news — You’re one of the growing number of people who are:
– Attentive about using what they purchase before it goes bad
– Composting their food scraps in their backyard or participating in CSWD’s Drop-Off Composting program
– Giving their scraps to a local farmer to feed livestock
The bad news — For you mathy folks, you know that means there are fewer households to divide into the 29 million pounds of food scraps heading for the landfill, so the number of pounds per household headed for the landfill each year may, indeed, be greater than 462 pounds. Wow!
The best news — It’s never too late to begin expressing gratitude for the bounty you enjoy, whether it’s a Thanksgiving meal or any other day of the year, by
– Taking a closer squint at how much food you buy
– Making sure your portions aren’t so big that you are kicked out of the Clean Plate Club
– Collecting those food scraps and making sure they don’t end up in the landfill! AtCSWD Drop-Off Centers and Green Mountain Compost, we’ll even give you a free food scrap collection starter kit to make it easy to quit wasting those valuable scraps.
Here are some handy food storage hacks that can save you some real dough.
Good Housekeeping’s easy food freshness tips
Got a favorite food waste reduction tip? Pass it along to info@cswd.net and we’ll share it with your fellow readers. |
Single-use batteries accepted for recycling at CSWD Drop-Off Centers in 2016
Here’s another new material that we’ll soon be able to keep out of the landfill: Single-use alkaline batteries! Yep, all those non-rechargeable AAA, AA, C, D and 9-volt batteries will be accepted for recycling at CSWD Drop-Off Centers and the Environmental Depotstarting January 1, 2016! Currently, only button cell, lead acid, lithium, rechargeable, and nicad batteries are recyclable at those locations. Each year, more and more states require manufacturers to step up to the plate and fund programs for managing recycling, reuse, or disposal of the products they make. This is a great incentive for manufacturers to create products that are less toxic, and are more easily upgraded, repaired, and recycled in a majority of communities. It requires more skin in the game by producers, requiring them to pay for and deal with those products at the end of their useful lives, reducing the burden on local government and taxpayers. It’s called extended producer responsibility, or product stewardship, and Vermont has seven such laws on the books. Vermont’s Primary Battery Law (Act 139) was signed into law in 2014. It requires producers of single-use batteries to fund and manage the collection of the batteries. This program is the first of its kind in the country. It will be run by Call2Recycle, an Atlanta, GA-based product stewardship organization for the battery industry. At the start of the new year, consumers will be able to recycle their household batteries at a variety of convenient locations around the state, including retailers, libraries, municipalities, and other frequently visited locations.
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Calendar
Veterans Day Holiday Schedule
Wednesday, November 11: All CSWD facilities will be closed in observance of Veterans Day. This includes all Drop-Off Centers, the Environmental Depot, Green Mountain Compost, and the Administrative Offices. All facilities will operate under normalschedules on days and weekends before and after the holiday.
Veterans Day holiday hours for NON-CSWD facilities:
City of Burlington: Recycling will not be collected on the observed holidays of Independence Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, or Christmas. If your recycling day falls on one of these observed holidays, recyclables will be collected the following week on your recycling day. We suggest calling Burlington Public Works at 863-9094 to confirm your collection schedule.
All Cycle Transfer Station: This facility is privately owned and operated. For hours, fees, specifications, and closures, please contact them directly at 864-7446.
Burlington Area Transfer Station: This facility is privately owned and operated. For hours, fees, specifications, and closures, please contact them directly at 878-3506, ext. 26.
Myers Recycling Facility: This facility is privately owned and operated. For hours, fees, specifications, and closures, please contact them directly at 655-4312.
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Thanksgiving Holiday Schedule
Drop-Off Centers (DOCs)
Wednesday, Nov. 25: Open regular hours
Thursday, Nov. 26: Closed for the holiday
Friday, Nov. 27: Open regular hours
Saturday, Nov. 28: Open regular hours ( 8-3:30)
Environmental Depot
Wednesday, Nov. 25: Closed for the holiday
Thursday, Nov. 26: Closed for the holiday
Friday, Nov. 27: Open regular hours (8-2)
Saturday, Nov. 28: Open regular hours (8-3:30)
Green Mountain Compost
Wednesday, Nov. 25: Open half day (8-12)
Thursday, Nov. 26: Closed for the holiday
Friday, Nov. 27: Open regular hours (8-4)
Saturday, Nov. 28: Closed per normal schedule
CSWD Administrative Offices
Wednesday, Nov. 25: Open half day (8-12)
Thursday, Nov. 26: Closed for the holiday
Friday, Nov. 27: Open regular hours
Materials Recovery Facility
Wednesday, Nov. 25: Open regular hours
Thursday, Nov. 26: Closed for the holiday
Friday, Nov. 27: Open regular hours
Saturday, Nov. 28: Open 8-12 to accommodate the holiday
THE FOLLOWING NON-CSWD FACILITIES WILL ALSO BE CLOSED ON THANKSGIVING DAY
All Cycle Transfer Station: This facility is privately owned and operated. For hours, fees, specifications, and closures, please contact them directly at 864-3615.
Burlington Area Transfer Station This facility is privately owned and operated. For hours, fees, specifications, and closures, please contact them directly at 878-3506, ext. 26.
Myers Recycling Facility: This facility is privately owned and operated. For hours, fees, specifications, and closures, please contact them directly at 655-4312.
Burlington Curbside Recycling Pickup
Thursday, Nov. 26: Recycling will NOT be picked up. Service for those with Thursdaypickup will resume the following week on regular pickup day. Call Burlington Public Works with questions: 863-9094.
McNeil Woodwaste Depot: This facility is privately owned and operated. For hours, fees, specifications, and closures, please contact them directly at 864-7446.
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