In an effort to
educate the public, the members of
the Advisory Board of the “Keep
Blackstone Valley Beautiful” (KBVB)
organization each brought one
randomly selected trash bag from
their communities to their meeting
today in order to demonstrate how
much recycable material gets thrown
away. In attendance were Dianne
Mailloux, Coordinator of KBVB,
Michael Debroisse, Superintendent of
Public Works in Woonsocket, Lori
Gagnon, Recycling Coordinator in
Smithfield, Andrea Hall, Recycling
Coordinator/Program and Special
Project Assistant of Burrillville,
Donna Kaehler Recycling Coordinator
in North Smithfield and Cumberland,
Joe Nield, Jr., Director of Public
Works in Central Falls plus Krystal
Noiseux, Recycling Program Manager
from the Rhode Island Resource
Recovery Corporation (RIRRC).
The bags of trash
were weighed prior to opening and
being emptied of their contents. Any
recycled material was then sorted
out and weighed. This material could
have been recycled instead of thrown
away in the trash. The first bag
opened held an empty 5-gallon drum
of polyurethane and broken
florescent bulbs that all should
have been properly disposed of
through the free Eco Depot Program
for household hazardous waste in RI
(www.rirrc.org/ecodepot).
. Other items found in the bags that
could have been recycled include:
cereal boxes, pudding cups, tin
cans, soda bottles, juice boxes,
pill bottles, bills, newspapers,
milk jugs, take out ice coffee cups,
egg cartons, and more. Plastic bags
were in the trash that should have
been returned to be recycled at the
containers at local stores and
businesses. A torn child’s jacket
could have been turned into rags and
recycled through a local charity. In
addition, needles were found in one
bag that should have first been
placed in a hard container, like a
laundry jug or coffee can, before
disposal in the trash, in order to
protect the safety of workers
handing it.
The Keep Blackstone
Valley Beautiful organization feels
that most people recycle, but not
always properly, or as much as they
possibly could! “These bags missed
32%-55% of the potential
recyclables!” said Dianne Mailloux.
“I even choose a bag from a place
that had put out a bin of recycling
to find out what had been missed,”
said Donna Kaehler. This is costing
our communities money, if recycle
properly, the RIRRC could have sold
the materials, and the profits from
the sale could have been shared with
our cities and towns. Imagine if
every household in the state was
missing 32% of recyclable materials?
“That would have equated to 109,000
tons being land filled last year, at
a cost of nearly $3.5 million
dollars. Those same tons would have,
instead, earned cities and towns
about $2.3 million last year,” said
Noiseux. If you have questions about
recycling in your community, please
go to your city or town website. For
more information about what can be
recycled in RI, go to
www.recycletogetherri.org
Community original
weight recycled materials weight
Bag 1. Cumberland 25
lbs 25 lbs to hazardous waste
Bag 2. Smithfield 1 lb 0.5 lbs
Bag 3. Woonsocket 10 lbs 4 lbs
Bag 4. Burrillville 18 lbs 5 lbs
Bag 5. Central Falls 7 lbs. 3 lbs.
Bag 6. North Smithfield 12 lbs 3 lbs
Total 73 lbs 40.5
lbs = 55%
*Without Cumberland’s hazardous
waste material: 48lbs 15.5 lbs= 32%
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