BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
NAHANT — It took some doing, but Nahant is moving closer to having zero waste.
Waste Management, the Texas-based company that collects the town’s trash, encouraged residents to form a committee and get actively involved in improving the amount of solid waste.
“It’s really horrifying,” said Jennifer McCarthy, a member of Toward Zero Waste Nahant. “It’s becoming a huge problem for the whole commonwealth. As a community, we need to work on how we can solve this problem.”
The 15 participants from several local organizations include representatives from the Recreation Department, Open Space, Little League and Nahant Safe Waters in Massachusetts.
“There are a whole bunch of different groups involved,” McCarthy said. “Hopefully the representatives can bring the message back to their individual groups.”
Diana Brandi, president of the Nahant Garden Club, said these initiatives are important, especially because Nahant is a coastal community.
“Our town administrator is trying to bring everyone together to figure out how to reach sustainability,” Brandi said. “Because we’re such a little island, we really have to protect our open space.”
She volunteers in other movements to protect the dunes, beaches, and prevent dangers caused by “mowing and blowing.”
The goal of Toward Zero Waste Nahant is to decrease solid waste, increase recycling and reduce the trash rate. Formed last month, the group held its second meeting Thursday. The event was a recycling workshop attended by nearly two dozen residents.
Christin Walth, a Zero Waste enthusiast, gave a presentation on what can and cannot be recycled curbside, surprising many of the attendees.
“It was really an eye opener,” McCarthy said. “Greasy pizza boxes were the highlight of the night. Everybody says you can’t do it because the grease contaminates the cardboard. But, because the plant we send our recycling to is a newer plant, it has a better capability to handle that grease.”
The audience applauded when they heard recycling the pizza boxes was allowed.
Earlier this month, the group held a composting meeting.
“It’s a huge problem with our trash,” McCarthy said. “Something like 20 percent of what we throw away each week is compost. Our main goal is get our weight of that down.”
The Earth Machine composters, which typically cost more than $100, can be purchased through McCarthy or other members of Toward Zero Waste for $43, she said.
The group plans to organize a tour of the Waste Management facility to give residents a better understanding of what happens to their trash.
“Going and actually seeing stuff will get people excited about wanting to participate in the program,” McCarthy said. “I think it’s important to protect the resources that we have and to make them healthy. Everybody’s very excited to get things moving in the right direction.”
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.
