The Limington Single-Sort Guide 

one container for all your recyclables

The following items are

NOT included in SINGLE-SORT;

by law, they require special

The following items are

 NOT INCLUDED IN SINGLE-SORT;

By Law, they require special handling and disposal:

Hazardous Waste

These items include: fuel, anti-freeze, oil-based paints,

paint thinners, stain, fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals.

Universal Waste

  Common products, such as: mercury in thermostats,

  fluorescent bulbs, compact fluorescent lights, televisions,

  computers, and button-cell batteries.

For more information about Hazardous and Universal Waste,

see the ecomaine website at www.ecomaine.org

HERE ARE SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
 

1.  What is single-sort recycling?

A single-sort recycling system – sometimes called single-stream – allows residents to place all their recyclable materials into just one container. That means your bottles, paper, glass, cardboard, metal, and plastic no longer have to be sorted or separated. It makes recycling more convenient and it takes up much less space in your home.

2. Does everything go in the same box or bag?

Everything that is recyclable goes in one bag - trash, however, still needs to be separated. But that means each household needs only two containers – one for trash and one for recyclables.

3. We always had to separate recyclable items before -- why is it OK to combine them now?

 New technology has made it possible to develop equipment that can separate recyclable items for us. All the recyclables start out together on one conveyor belt and then, as it moves along, special equipment picks out one type of material at a time and sends it along a different track. Separation is done by size, by gravity, by special scanner equipment, by magnets, and so on.

4. It sounds expensive!

The single-sort system costs about $3.7 million and is not something any one of our communities could afford to do alone. But because the equipment is part of a regional approach to dealing with our waste problems, we can afford it as a group and we all benefit from it.

The money for the single-sort system comes from the fees each municipality pays to dispose of its non-recyclable trash and from the income generated by selling processed recycling materials.

5. What other communities are involved? Where is the equipment located?

There are a total of 21 municipalities in Southern Maine that are owners of ecomaine. There are seven more communities that have long-term agreements with ecomaine and there are also businesses with no affiliation that pay for trash services on a per-use basis.

With the increased capacity of single-sort equipment, many more communities can now participate in ecomaine by signing contracts for recycling.

To make profit from a recycling operation, using full-cost accounting, requires a very heavy volume that individual municipalities in Maine would find impossible or extremely difficult to meet. That’s one reason the ecomaine regional effort makes good sense – even for Portland; another is the avoided expense of each municipality owning recycling balers, front-end loaders and other equipment necessary for recycling. ecomaine’s regional volume enables it to get top dollar for its recycled materials.

The single-sort equipment – along with the rest of ecomaine - is located in Portland, just off Exit 46 of the Maine Turnpike.

6. This sounds like a lot of money to spend on equipment, just so we can keep our recyclables in one container.

 If that were the only benefit, yes, it would be expensive and not worth the price. However, the real benefit comes from an increase in recycling. Because the single-sort system is so easy and convenient, national statistics show that more people begin to recycle - and that those who already recycle will recycle even more items.

An increase in recycling is good for us in three important ways:

A.     It’s the right thing to do for our environment and it helps conserve our natural resources.

B.     Every pound of recyclables we save from the trash bin is one less pound for which our town has to pay a waste disposal fee.

C.  Recyclables that are collected and sent to ecomaine for processing are then sold to manufacturers; that money helps to keep our fees for waste disposal from increasing.  

7. Are there any other financial benefits?

 Yes. For example, towns with transfer stations can compact recyclables since they don’t have to be separated. By compacting the material, a greater quantity can be squeezed into the same trailer before it’s full and needs to be hauled to ecomaine. That means fewer trips per year and, since haulers charge per trip, less expense for the town.

For municipalities that have curbside pick-up for recyclables, compaction brings the same advantage of fewer trips, but it also saves employee time. Without a single-sort system, employees had to take the bins from the curb and sort them by hand into the truck’s compartments. The job goes a lot faster when you can just dump the whole bin at once.  

8. So, will trucks that provide curbside pick-up idle less at each stop?

 That’s right. The trucks will save on fuel costs and will pollute less. Because of the new single-sort system, communities that range in size from Portland to Hollis have decided that curbside recycling service is now affordable.

9.  What are some of the items we should pull out of the trash and put into the recycling box?

 Paper makes up about 75% of all recyclable material sent to ecomaine. That’s because a great deal of paper products can be recycled now, including: cardboard – in fact, all boxes, newspapers, magazines and catalogs, and all books – including paperbacks, hardcover, and phone books. Other recyclable paper products include junk mail, window envelopes, file folders, wrapping paper, shopping bags, and aseptic milk and juice cartons (ones with gable tops and flat tops).

10.  What else should we be looking for?

 Plastic, metal and glass - including things like foil, cans, post & pans, empty aerosol cans, empty bottles and jars of any color. Plastic recycling has now changed to include anything labeled #1-7 inside the recycling triangle. The only plastics that can not be accepted now are items without a recycling triangle. Even many plastic grocery bags are now recyclable – just look for the recycling triangle on the side or the bottom of the bag.

11.  It’s always good to hear that the number of materials which are recyclable is expanding. But that brings up a good point: what should NOT be recycled?

 That’s a good question… and it’s important to know the answer because recyclable material is sold according to the consistency in each bale. For example, if bubble-wrap – which is NOT recyclable - gets mixed into the a bale of #2 plastic, the price will go down or the buyer may send it back as unusable.

 Here are some items that should NOT be included with your recyclables (for various reasons): light bulbs, hypodermic needles or any other sharp object, vinyl siding, bubble wrap, Styrofoam packaging or peanuts, toys, food

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