The town of Raymond has a plan to dry up the sea of cardboard that’s engulfing its cardboard recycling bins on Route 85. And the town is hopeful the plan will also discourage the dumping of just about everything else on that site, as well.
Not only have corrugated cardboard been left outside the bins instead of folded and put it inside, but excessive amounts of the material make the town believe that residents of neighboring towns, and perhaps contractors, are leaving their cardboard at the Raymond site.
In addition, the area, designated for cardboard recycling only, has become a dumping ground for unwanted items from old couches to engine blocks. And some substances left near the bins have yet even to be identified. This has created an ongoing, expensive and unsightly problem for the town, officials say.
According to Director of Raymond Public Works Nathan White, it takes his crew an average of one to several extra hours a week to pick up and transport all of the trash. Hours that could be better spent, he said.
At Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen Meeting, Recycling Committee Chairman Phil Hammett and White introduced their ideas to modify and monitor the site, and the board agreed.
The town will pour a new pad at the edge of the woods to accommodate three cardboard recycling bins. The bins will be positioned so that they face Route 85 to provide accessibility but their location, which will be farther back than their current location, will make them less obvious for those driving by.
The bins will be fenced and a sign attached to that fence will state the rules and directions for cardboard recycling for Raymond residents.
Included on the sign will be instructions to flatten all cardboard, use the side slots, use only the bins leaving nothing on the ground, and deposit only cardboard. It will also instruct users that littering may result in a $100 fine, that contamination and bin overflow costs the taxpayers money, and that the area is monitored.
This last instruction will be enforced by the purchase of a new surveillance camera. Tied to the school’s new camera system, which is designed to enable other cameras to be added in remote locations, the surveillance camera will cost the town about $2,000, according to Town Manager Don Willard, based on estimates by the town’s technology consultant Kevin Woodbrey.
“The camera will be purchased with available budgeted funds from the town’s recycling budget,” Willard said.
White expects to pour the new pad for the bins in the next couple of weeks and he says the signs should be completed within a week after their final wording is determined.
Although White says some of the people who are dumping inappropriate materials are “people you’re not going to change,” he believes others – like those who leave the Styrofoam packing in the boxes they dump – just don’t know.
“I’m hoping that this will fix the problem,” he said. “It’s an education process. I’m confident the people of Raymond will police this for us.”
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