GILFORD — Traffic was steady Tuesday at the town’s new recycling center with people dropping off cans, cardboard, glass, paper and plastics.
In a sense, garbage dropped off elsewhere at the Gilford Solid Waste Center is also recycled. It is burned to create electricity at a plant in Penacook.
The recycling center was opened early this year at a cost of nearly $1.4 million.
Some of that money will ultimately be recouped as recyclables that are broken into multiple streams are more valuable than the town’s old single-stream system, said Public Works Director Meghan Theriault.
And, the pandemic hasn’t slowed down the recycling.
“We have not changed operations,” she said. “We continue to collect everything.”
Some recycling centers closed, at least for a time, out of fear over the potential that COVID-19 could spread from the surfaces of recycled materials.
Theriault said that risk is actually quite low compared to the risk of infection through the air from someone with the virus. Workers are advised to socially distance, maintain good hand hygiene and be careful not to bring their hands to their face.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration gives the following advice for those who work in recycling.
“As with municipal waste, employers and workers in the recycling industry should continue to use typical engineering and administrative controls, safe work practices, and personal protective equipment, such as puncture-resistant gloves and face and eye protection, to prevent worker exposure to recyclable materials they manage, including any contaminants in the materials.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Suzanne Slater and Allen Everett were recycling cardboard and aluminum cans at the recycling center. They also dropped off a propane cylinder.
“We have garbage pickup, but we recycle,” Slater said. “Our neighbors come over here and get dirt for their garden, compost. It’s wonderful.
“We’re from Gilmanton and we moved to Gilford. When we first moved here, this dump, compared to Gilmanton, was so awful, but it’s wonderful now.”
The cardboard they were dropping off has significant value compared to other recyclables and that value has been increasing. The last bales of cardboard sold by Gilford fetched $125 a ton.
By realizing some value from recyclables, the town is able to defray some of the costs of solid waste disposal. Also, there is less material in the solid waste stream when a town successfully recycles. Less waste means less cost.
“Everything here is not going into the trash, and that’s a good thing,” said Theriault, as she gestured toward the recycling operation.
In the first quarter of 2020, Gilford bailed over 60,000 pounds of cardboard, 68,000 pounds of mixed paper, 20,000 pounds of plastic and 5,500 pounds of aluminum.
Through the end of May, it collected $20,000 from residents for dropping off items, such as mattresses, for which there is a charge.
Glass that is brought to the recycling center is ground down to form a road base material.
Laconia has also kept up its recycling during the pandemic, but its system is different from Gilford’s.
Laconia has set up a procedure for recycling cardboard at a 24-7 facility on Messer Street. Otherwise, recyclables picked up at the curb or taken to the transfer station on Meredith Center Road go into a single stream.
The city tells residents to throw away glass, and has even come up with a slogan, “Glass is trash.”
Anderson said the bottom fell out of the recycling market in October 2017, when the Chinese stopped taking recyclables.
The point he stresses is that people should be careful not to contaminate recyclables with things like plastic bags, or hoses. Milk cartons aren’t recyclable either.
“For recycling, it’s quality, not quantity,” he said. “Don’t put anything in there that's not recyclable. The system can't handle it.”
