By Terri Goldberg
Joseph Sten started working for Belmont three months before we sat down for a meeting on April 9. He is still learning how Belmont’s programs work and getting support and help from Jay Marcotte, Belmont’s Department of Public Works director. Sten worked at Needham’s transfer station and has a background in political science and urban studies. He’s friendly and approachable. Here’s a summary of what we talked about.
Goldberg
What are you working on these days to help improve Belmont’s recycling?
Joseph Sten. Photo courtesy of Joseph Sten
Sten
Helping answer questions from residents about recycling and waste. Most of the questions are about how to handle electronics and appliances.
I am also working to help the town get some state funding to support its recycling efforts. Belmont has been without a recycling coordinator for the past three or so years and, as a result, has been delinquent in providing data that MassDEP is seeking about our recycling under their Recycling Dividend Program (RDP). The RDP provides grants to municipalities that have implemented programs and policies proven to maximize reuse, recycling, and waste reduction. I am working on Belmont’s application so the town can take advantage of these state funds. We hope to obtain funding to enable the town to offer more special recycling days.
BCF
What are your priorities going forward?
Sten
I’m planning to do much more education and outreach and develop information materials to help residents understand what they need to do to sort their waste correctly. I am working to improve the annual calendar and produce flyers and pamphlets that can be disseminated at prominent locations such as the schools and the new library. I want to make improvements to the town’s waste web pages.
Goldberg
What are the issues that you are hearing about?
Sten
I am hearing from my generation (young people) that they are not very confident in the system we have established for recycling. They are not sure about what’s going on with their recyclables and are suspicious that they are not hearing all of the story. They see the large and growing companies involved in hauling and processing waste and are not sure they are actually doing what they are supposed to do with the materials.
Similarly, all haulers are adding processing fees for recyclables that Belmont and other towns now have to pay as part of their contracts. The fees are supposedly based on the fluctuations in the markets for the recyclables, but when asked, the companies are unwilling to explain how those fees are set and the source of data that they use to set these fees. The fees keep increasing and now cost the town about $300,000 per month. Belmont has little leverage with its hauler to obtain more complete and transparent information on this and other aspects of how its contract is implemented, which is frustrating.
Goldberg
So, how do you respond to these concerns?
Sten
We need more transparency regarding where our recyclables end up and the associated costs and market conditions.
Goldberg
How does Belmont compare with other similar towns?
Sten
Waste Management audits Belmont’s recyclables twice yearly to assess the level of contamination, and consistently, they find the level to be around 5%. This is relatively good compared with other communities, which can have contamination levels as high as 40%. So overall, we believe Belmont is doing well.
Waste Management can assess which streets have higher contamination rates than others. This helps the town target its ticketing and education efforts to those areas and helps reduce contamination. The hauler has not audited the trash since around 2016-2017 to assess the level of improper recyclables and suggest ideas for improvement. That would be helpful. They do look for waste-ban materials in the trucks’ loads as the state requires.
Items you can’t place in your recycling bin in Belmont. For a full list, see www.belmont-ma.gov/263/Recycling-Trash-Information .
Photos: Town of Belmont
Goldberg
What are the problem waste materials that you are seeing?
Sten
The town collects many batteries and mercury-containing fluorescent lamps at its drop-off location in the Homer Municipal Building. Keeping these materials out of the waste and recycling streams is important. There is a pick-up fee of $25 for electronics and appliances, but residents are confused about which particular items are in these categories and which are not. Any residents who are confused about this should call me.
Belmont is the only municipality in the area that collects mattresses and bulky waste—defined as normal household trash that will not fit into the cart and includes tires, bikes, sports equipment, metal items, furniture, rugs/carpet, large plastic children’s play items, and more—for free. This costs the town a lot every year. Most of the neighboring towns charge a fee to pick up these items.
Goldberg
What are you hoping to work on in the future?
Sten
I am hoping to do more to expand food waste diversion in Belmont. We are trying to work with the schools on this. We are talking to Belmont Composts! about what we can do. They have successfully worked with Chenery to collect food waste for composting. They hope to help expand the program to the high school in the future.
Terri Goldberg is a Belmont resident.
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