Needham is in its fourth year of single-stream recycling in schools and town buildings.
How are we doing? Not as well as we could be.
The total amount of recycling was about the same in 2011-12 (3rd year) as it was in 2009-10 (the first year), so we haven’t improved. That’s disappointing because you would expect the first year would be low as people get used to a new system. More disappointing is that during that same period, the amount of trash increased 40%.
There were some bright spots, however:
- School Administration was one of the few buildings to significantly increase recycling and reduce trash. As a result, staff at the Emery Grover building recycled at a 63% rate, surpassing the Needham Public Library (which improved to 57%) for top honors in recycling rate.
- Broadmeadow, Hillside and Mitchell Schools all increased the total amount of material they recycled. The Hillside School also had the best “per capita” recycling at 21 pounds of material recycled per student.
Here are the the results for fiscal year 2012 (July 2011 – June 2012) for our schools:
| Building | Recycling | Trash | % Recycled | Total Waste |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillside School | 9,300 | 26,500 | 26% | 35,800 |
| Broadmeadow School | 10,300 | 36,250 | 22% | 46,500 |
| Mitchell School | 9,000 | 31,100 | 22% | 40,100 |
| High School | 20,200 | 78,150 | 21% | 98,350 |
| High Rock School | 8,500 | 41,970 | 17% | 50,470 |
| Eliot School | 7,600 | 33,200 | 19% | 40,800 |
| Pollard School | 15,650 | 65,450 | 19% | 81,100 |
| Newman School | 6,800 | 48,000 | 12% | 54,800 |
And here are the results for non-school buildings:
| Building | Recycling | Trash | % Recycled | Total Waste |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emery Grover | 6,000 | 3,550 | 63% | |
| Library | 14,400 | 10,700 | 57% | |
| Town Hall | 9,750 | 12500 | 44% | |
| Department of Public Works | 6,000 | 15,500 | 28% | |
| Highway Barrels | 0 | 41,350 | 0% | |
| Parks Barrels | 0 | 47,750 | 0% |
Recycling results for school and town buildings – 2011-12
