WINDHAM – Windham residents are far surpassing neighboring communities by recycling at rates approaching 50 percent.

While the rate has been slowly ticking upward since 2006, recently released figures show December’s rate hit 49.5 percent. Last year’s overall recycling rate of 42 percent is higher than the previous five years, earning Windham one of the best recycling-to-trash ratios in both Cumberland County and among the 21 member-communities that make up ecomaine, the region’s waste and recycling processor based in Portland.

“It’s wonderful,” said Windham Public Works administrative assistant Edra Long, who serves as Windham’s liaison with ecomaine and Pine Tree Waste, the town’s trash and recycling hauler. “The state is looking for the communities to reach the 50 percent mark in recycling and we’re at 49.5 percent. I was so excited when I saw that report.”

Other towns in the Lakes Region hover between 15 and 25 percent for their recycling-to-waste ratio.

While Windham’s December rate approached 50 percent, the figure fluctuates from month to month. Big storms, once-a-year roadside pickup efforts and the summer’s influx of tourists can each affect the rates. But since 2006, Windham’s annual recycling rate has been on a steady upward rise, with 30.92 percent recycling in 2006, 35.10 percent in 2007, 33.76 percent in 2008, 40.18 percent in 2009, 43.09 percent in 2010 and 44.56 percent in 2011.

In terms of tonnage, 2011 saw Windham residents throw out 2,127 tons of garbage along with 1,531 tons, or 42 percent, of recyclable material.

The 50 percent target was set by the State Planning Office back in the late 1980s when recycling started to gain popularity, according to Bruce White, a planner with the state office. While Windham is close to exceeding the goal, few towns are able to reach the mark more than 20 years later.

“Fifty percent is a statewide recycling goal. Last year, the state average was 37 percent. We’ve been over 40 percent, I believe, just once,” White said.

There is no carrot to get towns to recycle other than how the ratio affects the taxpayers’ bottom line.

When asked what the reward was for breaking through the 50 percent barrier, Long responded, “I had a resident ask me if we got a break on our taxes or we all got a free movie night and I just laughed. But that would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

The real carrot, she said, are the environmental benefits, as well as reduced costs for waste. With ecomaine charging $88 per ton for waste and nothing for recycling, the more residents throw in their recycling bin, the less they dispose of in their trash bags. Trash and recycling hauling fees still apply, however, she added.

To get towns to recycle more, White says communities that employ incentives such as curbside recycling and require residents to buy trash bags have greater recycling rates as a result. Windham employs both methods.

“It’s especially good [for those towns with] curbside pickups and [access to] single-stream recycling. The more products you have, the more you’re able to attack the waste stream,” White said.

Shelley Dunn, spokeswoman for ecomaine, says ecomaine’s statistics regarding greater Portland communities back up White’s claim that incentives work.

“Curbside recycling, pay-per-bag, those are the major factors of why a town would tend to do better,” she said. “The more advantages a town has to make it easier or required for recycling, the higher their recycling rate tends to be.”

Windham requires residents to buy blue trash bags, which cost $13.50 for a 10-pack of 15-gallon bags or a five-pack of 30-gallon bags. The less trash residents need to throw into those bags, the less they have to personally pay for trash removal, Long says. And the numbers bear out the reduction in waste. In 2011, Windham sold 250,250 bags. In 2010, the town sold 311,125 bags.

“We’ve also sold fewer bags than we have in the past. The more people recycle, the fewer bags they have to use,” Long said.

Lately, despite the good news regarding recycling rates, Windham has been having trouble with its recycling program. Some residents aren’t using the prescribed purple bins issued by the town, deciding instead to use nondescript bins and plastic bags to store recycling on the curb. But with residents’ help, the problem can be solved and probably will boost the recycling rate, as well, Long said.

“Pine Tree Waste will tell us people aren’t using their bins. They’ll put the recycling in 50-gallon barrels filled with recycling, in white or black plastic bags, which gets dumped with the trash. They have to use their purple Windham Recycles bins or some other similarly sized bin,” she said.

The Public Works Department has published an educational flyer and advertised in local newspapers in an effort to get out the word regarding proper bins. The effort even has a catchy title: “Everyone wins when you use your bins.”

Fast-moving recycling hauler Jacob Toman with Pine Tree Waste empties a bin full of recyclables into a recycling truck Monday afternoon along Woldbrook Drive, off Whites Bridge Road in Windham. The town’s recycling rates are relatively high compared with area towns. (Staff photo by John Balentine)