BRISTOL — The Bristol Capital Improvement Program Committee has agreed to include expenditures that would enable the town to expand its recycling program, according to Selectman Don Milbrand, a member of the committee.
The town also is looking at a regional approach to recycling that might include a partnership with the town of Alexandria, which recently purchased 70 acres of land that could provide plenty of storage area for recycled material. Alexandria is in the early stages of what it anticipates to be a three- to five-year development plan for the property.
Discussing the matter at the Oct. 1 meeting of the Bristol Board of Selectmen, Herb D’Arcy and Janet Metcalf, members of the Bristol Sustainability Committee, explained their recommendation for the purchase of a horizontal or vertical bailer that could handle cardboard as well as potentially bailing plastic and aluminum for recycling. Their proposal included spending $20,000 for a storage building at one of the bays at the Bristol Transfer Station.
“We can earn revenue on bailed cardboard, aluminum, and plastic,” Metcalf told the selectmen.
After the market for recyclable material collapsed in 2018, the cost of disposing of the material collected through single-stream recycling increased so substantially that Bristol and other area towns suspended their recycling programs. Currently, the town recycles only glass to keep down the cost of solid waste disposal, which is based on weight.
Experts say recycling can be profitable if the material is separated and bundled, but doing so requires special equipment and land to store the material until there is enough on hand to make it worthwhile to truck away. Milbrand said no single town has the necessary volume, but a regional collaboration could generate the necessary amount to make it profitable.
The Bristol Sustainability Committee, formed last spring to advise selectmen and provide educational material to residents, is planning a Sustainability Fair on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring information on water resources, solar power, climate change, and other environmentally friendly practices. The event will take place in Kelley Park.
