This commentary is by Sarah Reeves, Executive Director of the Chittenden Solid Waste District.
It’s easy to throw the cardboard into the blue trash can. Don’t forget to put the trash can on the curb for collection or take it to a collection center.
The good news is that recycling is second nature to many Vermonters. The bad news is, when you pull the curtain and observe the next steps in that cardboard journey, you’ll be amazed at how old and inefficient the facilities are to sort these materials into streams that can be made into new products.
The Chittenden Solid Waste District built Vermont’s first major recycling center in 1993 in Williston, known as the Material Recovery Facility. After years of research, deliberation, and predictions by staff, the Chittenden Solid Waste District Commission concluded that material recovery facilities were inefficient, outdated, lacking capacity, and available for Vermonters to recycle. We are limiting the amount.
Today, it is one of the few recycling centers in the United States that relies on manual labor for significant sorting of materials. As a result, the district committee decided that the new and improved facilities would be in the public interest.
To meet this demand, the Board in June called into question the November ballot, authorizing Chittenden County voters to issue general obligation bonds to finance the construction and installation of new material recovery facilities. Approved to ask Chittenden County voters.
If approved, the new facility will utilize proven technology to enable more efficient recycling while maintaining employment in a wider variety of occupations.
More space, better ventilation and lighting will provide better working conditions for Vermont workers. This will address serious capacity issues and allow us to accept approximately 40% more material than our current facility can manage.
The new materials recovery facility will help increase recycling, conserve natural resources, and reduce Vermont’s carbon footprint. Designed to accommodate future changes in recyclable materials, some of which are still in the design stage and some even unimaginable.A modern facility that matches Vermonter’s love of recycling. will be
To fund this new material recovery facility, the Chittenden Solid Waste District will need to borrow $22 million, approved by Chittenden County voters at this year’s general election. The district will repay the loan from the operating income of the material recovery facility.
A recent change in Vermont election law made solid waste district bond items ineligible for inclusion on general election ballots, and neither the secretary of state nor the solid waste district can mail ballots to voters.
So how do you vote? Chittenden County voters can request a Solid Waste District ballot from my voter page at mvp.vermont.gov or from the town clerk. Ballots will be available at all Chittenden County polling places on November 8.
The mission of the Chittenden Solid Waste District is to reduce and manage solid waste generated within Chittenden County in an environmentally friendly, efficient, effective and economical manner.
Half of Vermont relies on Chittenden County’s material recovery facility to protect valuable recyclable resources from Coventry landfills. While this aging materials recovery facility and the dedicated people who work there are doing a great job despite the facility’s limitations, the solid waste district commissioner, representing 18 member communities, has decided to move to a new publicly owned facility. of his 21st-century recovery facility.
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