Nahant sees big recycling increase

NAHANT – The amount of materials being recycled by town residents has increased dramatically for the third year in a row.Just seven months into 2010, residents have recycled 217 tons of material; 169 tons of recyclables were picked up in all of 2009.Exact numbers for 2007 were not available, but Nahant Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said it was less than what was collected in 2008.Cullinan attributed the increase to the ease of single stream recycling, weekly collections and heightened environmental awareness.He pointed out there was a jump in the tonnage in May 2008 when the town moved to single stream recycling and residents no longer had to separate paper from other recyclable materials.Cullinan said he believes the move to single stream took some of the hassle out of recycling and led to the increase.The biggest single jump in the amount of materials being recycled came in 2009 when the town started collecting recyclables on a weekly basis instead of every two weeks. The tonnage of materials being recycled almost doubled with that change.In July, August and September 2008, when recyclables were collected once every two weeks, there were 58.8 tons of recyclable materials collected in town. A year later, after the switch was made to weekly collections, the tonnage almost doubled to 105.56 tons in June, July and August 2009.In addition to the increase in recycling, the town also saved money when it signed a new contract for rubbish collection.Cullinan said the town currently pays $272,000 for its weekly recycling contract with Northside Carting of Andover, compared to the $288,000 biweekly contract with the previous vendor.Cullinan said the new contract has been very successful and has saved the town money while helping the environment.