Recycling campaign kicks off in Saugus

SAUGUS – In her ongoing quest to educate the public on recycling, Lorna Cerbone is launching a sticker campaign.The Solid Waste/Recycling Inspector said the town would begin using bright yellow stickers to educate residents on why a particular item was left behind by trash haulers.”JRM (Hauling & Recycling Services) trucks will carry the stickers,” Cerbone explained. “If they leave an item behind they will check off a box so the homeowner will know why it was left behind. It’s an educational sticker.”Cerbone said this month marks two years since the town has begun leaving behind obvious recycling that has been put out with the trash. But, she added, she still sees residents putting out items such as bundles of cardboard or piles of boxes that haven’t been broken down.Cardboard is just one item that JRM will leave behind, but Cerbone said there are actually six common mistakes. Those mistakes actually violate the waste bans established by the Department of Environmental Protection.Construction and demolition materials, compostable yard waste and hazardous waste and items that require a sticker are banned items that will be left behind by trash haulers, Cerbone said. If a resident exceeds the five-bag limit and has not purchased a sticker for the extra bags or barrels, those will also be left behind, she said.Cerbone noted that it is also the homeowner’s responsibility to dispose of items left behind by the trash or recycling trucks. She also counts herself lucky that, thus far, items left behind have not turned up in illegal dumping sites.Cerbone went through a stretch about two years ago where getting a handle on illegal dumping seemed to be beyond her grasp. However, she dug in her heels and literally dug into the trash to track down violators and fined them.Her efforts apparently have not gone unnoticed since, she said, there has been a marked drop in illegal dumping incidents over the last year.”Honestly we haven’t had too many complaints with illegal dumping,” she said. “It’s definitely not the major issue it was, which is a good thing.”Now Cerbone is hoping her efforts toward getting residents to recycle will have similar results in that soon it too will no longer be a major issue.Cerbone said while her tonnage amounts have yet to reflect the trend, she firmly believes more residents are recycling, and recycling more items.”I do see more recycling out there,” she said. “There are a lot of people doing a good job.”But Cerbone is still stunned by those few residents who refuse to recycle at all.”They’re throwing away things that could be recycled and the cost doesn’t seem to faze them,” she said.Recycling is free to the town while trash removal comes at a cost. If more residents recycled, Cerbone said, the amount of trash would decrease, which would in turn decrease the cost to the town.”But a lot of people are doing the right thing,” she added quickly, “Most people are really good about complying.”