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Trim
Your "Waste" Line!
At Home
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When
you avoid making trash in the first place, you
no longer have to be concerned with throwing it
out or recycling it. Most trash in Cambridge is
sent to landfills and the rest is sent to incinerators.
Trash does not decompose in landfills
since there is little oxygen and moisture. 40-year-old
newspapers can be found with easily readable print
from exacavated landfills! Groundwater under and
around landfills must be monitored and maintained
for up to 30 years. To add to the problem, landfill
space is running out and we keep generating more
and more trash.
Trash burned in incinerators results in carcinogenic
(cancer-causing) emissions and toxic ash. Incinerators
contribute to contamination of our air, water
and soil.
Reducing waste can be easy and will
save you and the City time and money. In addition,
reducing waste saves natural resources, reduces
pollution and helps protect public health!
Recycling is one way to reduce the
amount of waste we generate by diverting materials
like paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metals
into the recycling bin.
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Another
way to reduce waste is to avoid it altogether,
this is called source reduction. An example of
source reduction is when a company uses less packaging
for a product. Have you ever seen breakfast cereal
in a plastic bag without the paperboard box? That's
source reduction. Another example of source reduction
is composting your food and yard waste and turning
it into soil!
To reduce trash, think about your habits at home,
at school and at work! Think about reducing waste
before shopping, while shopping and after shopping.
Can you think of other ways to manage your waste
“at the source” and never let it enter
the waste stream? |
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Cambridge
Trash Facts
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Last year, we recycled 35%
of our waste. Nearly 24,000 tons of trash
and 12,000 tons of recycling was generated
from Cambridge residents, schools and city
buildings. That's 468 pounds of trash and
236 pounds of recycling per person. |
Year (1)
|
Total Tons of Trash |
Total Tons of Recycling
(2) |
Total Tons of Solid
Waste |
Recycling Rate |
| FY03 |
23,697 |
11,966 |
35,613 |
35% |
| FY02 |
21,185 |
12,646 |
33,831 |
35% |
| FY01 |
21,806 |
10,764 |
32,570 |
33% |
| FY00 |
21,672 |
10,757 |
32,429 |
33% |
| FY99 |
21,607 |
9,860 |
31,437 |
31% |
(1) Based on the City's fiscal year, which is
July-June. For example, FY03 is July 2002-June
2003.
(2) Total tons of recycling includes all materials
collected for curbside (paper, cardboard, glass,
metal plastic, white goods, and christmas trees)
and Drop-off recycling including electronics,
clothing, mixed plastics and styrofoam, and batteries.
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Where
Does Your Trash Go?
When we throw garbage out we assume it is going
"away". But where is away? Truthfully,
there is no away.
Trash from Cambridge households, city buildings
and schools is collected at the curb in rubbish
packers operated by Public Works. The trash is
dumped at the Waste Management Transfer Station
in Somerville. Waste Management sends about 20%
of our trash to incinerators and about 80% is
sent to landfills. The garbage incinerators where
our trash is burned are located in Massachusetts
in Saugus and Millbury. The landfills where our
trash is buried are in Rochester NH, as well as
in Massachusetts in Chicopee, Grandby, Fitchburg,
Gardner and Barre.
What
is Massachusetts doing?
| MA is committed
to reducing municipal and commercial solid
waste as well as construction and demolition
debris. Overall, the statewide goal is to
reduce municipal waste by 60% by 2010. To
get to this goal, we need to increase the
amount recycled and reduce the amount of waste
generated in the first place. Since 1990,
MA has banned the following materials from
landfills and incinerators in order to increase
recycling efforts and divert hazardous materials: |
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- Lead-Acid Batteries, Effective 12/31/90
- Leaf and Yard Waste, Effective 12/31/91
- Whole Tires, Effective 12/31/91 (Landfills
Only)
- White Goods (Appliances), Effective 12/31/91
- Metal Containers, Effective 4/1/93
- Glass Containers, Effective 4/1/93
- Single-Resin, Narrow Necked Plastic Containers,
Effective 12/31/94
- Recyclable Paper, Effective 12/31/94
- Cathode Ray Tubes, Effective 4/1/00
Click here for more information on MA
waste bans or to view the MA
Solid Waste Master Plan.
Links
on Waste Reduction
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