For the second time this year, Chittenden Solid Waste Department staff will suit up and sort trash gathered from around Chittenden County for four days during the week of October 18. A sort done in May 2010 found that recyclables comprised 16.8 percent of trash, down from 19.3 percent in 2006.
Similar to the Burlington City Hall sort that took place on October 14, staff will measure the amount of recyclables and compostables that are ending up languishing in a landfill when they could have been recycled into new products, or composted into valuable soil amendments.
"Waste composition studies provide us with a measure of how well we are all doing in Chittenden County in utilizing the programs available to divert waste from landfills," says Nancy Plunkett, CSWD's Waste Reduction Manager. "We will combine the data we collect now with data from the sort in May of this year and compare them with the data collected in 2006. This information will guide us as we work to improve existing programs, design new programs, and target our education efforts."
The sorting will occur at the All Cycle Transfer Station in Williston with the assistance of Casella Waste Management. Samples of trash are drawn from a variety of haulers and routes in Chittenden County. About a quarter of the population is based in Burlington, so about a quarter of the samples are drawn from there, and from the trash haulers with routes in that area. Similarly, CSWD draws lightly from less populated areas and haulers with routes in outlying areas.
The trash pulled from haulers' trucks is dumped on a conveyor belt, where staff sorts trash, recyclables, and compostables into barrels. These barrels are then weighed and data recorded.
What percentage of what people throw away is really trash? Here is a comparison of materials we found in the trash between sorts in 2006 and May 2010:
Material 2006 May 2010
Paper....................13.7%......11.3%
Plastic containers...5.6%........5.5%
Total recyclables....19.3%......16.8%
Compostables.......33.2%......27.8%
True trash.............47.5%......55.4%
The waste sort will be happening Tuesday through Friday mornings, October 19-22, at the All Cycle Transfer Station (220 Avenue B, Williston).