Brookhaven's new Single Stream Recycling program breaks record

According to supervisor Ed Romaine, Brookhaven town's new Single Stream Recycling program has resulted in a record-breaking collection in its first week. The department of waste management reported that they received 1170.8 tons of recyclables which were picked up by carters on January 8th and 9th and delivered to the town's Materials Recycling Facility. The 2013 average weekly collection was 436.72 tons. The previous record for a single week pick up was 780.55 tons on January 26, 2011. The new Single Stream Recycling program allows residents to combine their paper and co-mingled items into one container, with no sorting required. In addition to single stream recycling, the town has expanded its program to include plastics #3 to #7. In the past, only plastics #1 and #2 were recycled. The town picks up recyclables every Wednesday. "It's obvious from the first week that people have embraced Single Stream recycling since the initial response has been so overwhelming," said Romaine. "Most people understand the impact that recycling has on the environment and now that it's more convenient for them to participate, our program should be very successful." Councilman Tim Mazzei, town board to liaison to the department of waste management said, "The record-breaking numbers prove that residents are on-board with Single Stream Recycling. We knew the numbers would be better than in the past, but we didn't expect them to be so high." Studies of communities that have converted to Single Stream recycling have shown a 20% to 30% increase in the recycling rate. For every additional ton of material recycled, the town is expected to save in excess of $125 through the sale of the material and the avoided disposal cost. The town also expects to increase revenue by accepting recyclables from other municipalities in the region that are not currently equipped to handle single stream processing. In comparison to the 1170.8 tons of recyclables collected by the town, the Statue of Liberty weighs 225 tons (100 tons of copper, 125 tons of steel), the Space Shuttle weighs 82.5 tons and a New York City Subway Car weighs 42.6 tons For more information about recycling in the town of Brookhaven, go to www.brookhaven.org.