For the past six Saturdays, a pilot program run by Sagadahoc Recycling with help from volunteers has been accepting source-separated recyclable materials, including glass, steel and aluminum cans and four types of plastic (#1, #2 natural, #2 colored, and #5), at the Bowdoinham Recycling Barn on the Post Road.

Separating the various recyclable materials is a crucial step in the recycling loop, and source separation is the least expensive method of doing it. One of the goals of the pilot program is to see if residents are willing to take the extra step of sorting materials themselves rather than sending them out of town at a cost of up to $300 per ton to be sorted for recycling by Casella Recycling, a large materials recovery firm which has been sorting the Town’s commingled containers (glass, plastic, and metal) since 2007.

Since Bowdoinham residents have always source-separated all the recyclable paper products (news, magazines, corrugated, and mixed paper), the commingled containers side of the recycling stream is the only thing that ties the town to an expensive, out-of-town sorting system. If Town residents delivered their containers already sorted to the Recycling Barn that would eliminate the costly transportation and tipping fees associated with Casella’s operation.

Source separation has the additional benefit of leaving the sorted materials, all of which have value in the recycling market, ready to baled and sold by the Town, rather than being baled and sold by the Casella company.

If the town were currently baling #2 natural plastic (milk jugs), they could be sold today for $1,500 per ton.

When the town was doing its own sorting in the ‘90s, on average 4 tons of milk jugs a year were sold. While this type of plastic is the most valuable of the 6 categories collected, they all have value in the recyclables market. Additional savings comes from the avoided cost ($300 per ton) of out-of-town sorting.

The Pilot Program, which received major funding from the Bowdoinham Community Development Initiative, was able to establish a large space for a gift shop/library that was set off from the working area of the Recycling Barn with its own separate entrance. Because the source-separated materials are dropped off through a series of windows from outside the building, and the interior is not accessible from the gift shop/library, no one except Barn staff is inside, and the public is safe regarding any danger from equipment working there. Although the COVID virus appears to be waning, certainly having the public outside in the fresh air and two or three staff members inside would seem to be the healthiest conditions for any pandemic situation.

The Pilot Program is available to all Town residents, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. It will continue into mid-June.

David Berry designed and led Bowdoinham’s solid waste and recycling program for 30 years. He lives in Bowdoinham and owns the Bowdoinham Recycling Barn.