The Kent County Commissioners ended Chestertown’s curbside recycling program in 2010 to help save the county $400,000 in annual recycling expenses.
But Mayor Margo Bailey and the Town Council found a solution in contracting Infinity Recycling to take over the program — and the results have been nothing short of stellar.
Participation and efficiency has dramatically improved, said Infinity President Ford Schumann.
“Chestertown had 684 participating households when the town took over the program, which was about 36 percent participation,” Schumann said in his progress report to the Chestertown Council on Monday. He said participation jumped to 956 households after the first month.
And the numbers kept climbing, Schumann said.
After the first sixth months of operation, 1054 households were participating, and the number climbed to nearly 1100 households by the end of the first year. Schumann said participation is at 58 percent of all homes and he anticipates passing the 60 percent milestone soon.
“We’re setting up a couple of new [homes] each week,” Schumann said.
While participation has not yet doubled, the amount of material collected has — from 200,000 to 400,000 pounds of material annually.
“People are just getting better and better at it,” Schumann said.
He also noted that participation was greater in Chestertown than many other communities because the town foots the bill for each participating home, which costs the town a little under $4 per residence each month.
Schumann said Chestertown was well above average in participation and said he plans to conduct door-to-door canvasing to reach even more recyclers.
Schumann sees even greater efficiency in his plan to adopt a dual stream sorting system, as apposed to a single stream system, which results in a greater loss and under utilization of material when paper and clothing is commingled with broken glass. Losses also occur when different colored glass is accidentally crushed and mixed together – rendering the glass un-recyclable.
All other municipalities on the Shore use a single stream collection system, which combines all the materials into one bin at the curb. Schumann said breakage and commingling occurs mostly during the collection process.
So far, Chestertown residents have done the heavy lifting by separating the material five ways for pickup. Schumann said this is important because buyers of recycling material are getting really picky about the quality of the material they accept — and buyers often reject entire shipments of material if there is any contamination.
Under a dual-stream collection system in Chestertown, residents would only need two bins: One for paper and clothing, and the other for plastic, metals and glass.
The material would then be sorted at a new facility that Infinity plans to open within the next year at the corner of Millington Road and 301 – a former repair facility for fire trucks.
The facility would be the only dual stream sorting facility on the Shore and Schumann is trying to recruit other municipalities to participate.
“The challenge of establishing the facility is generating enough use for it to pay for itself,” Schumann said. “I’m going to be canvasing a lot of towns to make them aware of the facility, and hopefully they will sign on.”
Schumann is hoping the facility will also create jobs for people with developmental disabilities.
He said he’s looking to recruit team sorters from the Kent Center, Caroline Center, Benedictine Center, Wye Center, and the Chesapeake Center.
“They all are very interested,” Schumann said.
BarbaraSnyder says
Could the town program be expanded to include all of Kent County? Perhaps more people outside town limits would recycle. We are all for recycling and even with the fee it is cheaper than using the landfill and more convenient. We’d be willing to pay the $4 that the town pays.
Jack Offett says
If you are not aware of this, Republic Services offers single stream recycling as part of their monthly service (e/o week). The monthly charge is $35 a month for the total trash removal experience. These folks are really organized and well run. I have witnessed Infinity. Reminds me of the Arabers of Baltimore.
Weren’t Margo Bailey and Ford Shumann the ones who lead the charge against the Waste-to-Energy facility many years ago. They claimed environmental risks. Now Maryland wants to lead in this area.
They promised real recycling reform. Now we have mountains of buried trash on the Shore that threaten the health and safety of the public in the future while eating up our farmland for cover material.
If you want a real economic development/lowering cost of government move, let’s build a waste to energy facility. I think Bailey and Shumann have had enough time to prove their methods only spelled environmental disaster in the years to come for anyone who lives near these trash mountains.
What a legacy those two are leaving for the future.
MB Troup says
I’m guessing that your fee would be greater than $4. The Town is a defined space allowing for planned routes. The marginal cost for Ford to pick up at the next house in town is negligible. The same can’t be said for scattershot trips across the county. I would suggest gathering your metals and finding someone who will pay YOU for them.
On a separate note, this facility is hopefully the first sensible building block to a light manufacturing/industrial hub on 301.
Jack Offett says
Yes. Plus energy independence and an end to this immoral act of mountains of trash and the raping of farm land for dirt to cover it.
Donald Sparks says
Barbara,
You can recycle with Infinity if you live outside of town. It only costs $6 per month for twice a month pick-up. It’s well worth it. I own a trash business, but have Infinity as my home recycler. We recycle A LOT!
BarbaraSnyder says
We do recycle with Infinity. Before the town plan recycling was “free”. Paid for by our tax dollars.
matthew weir says
What a wonderful success story! Chestertown residents are clearly interested in recycling. The Schumman’s have been at this for many years and are to be commended for working for the communities interest.
One point I must highlight, though, is that it is not just the ‘Town’ that pays the $4 per household, it is the taxpayers of Chestertown! Remember, the Town is not a business that sells something and makes a profit. It is an entity that exists to assist the people of Chestertown and is paid for by the people of Chestertown.
Carla Massoni says
It is a success story. Also, I would like to remind folks that if you have a large amount of material, you can call Infinity for a separate pick-up. When we were cleaning out one of our storage areas, we were able to arrange this with no problems. Thank you Ford Schumann & Mayor Bailey.
Norm Dulak says
This sounds like a good idea for Chestertown. But I live only a mile from the County transfer station, and it takes little effort once in a while to take my two recycling bins to the station and separate the items. And it costs nothing.
Carla Massoni says
Norm – thanks for recycling – even if it takes the extra effort! I am grateful for the Infinity group – and happy to pay the tax – as a senior, lifting the bins has become a thing of the past. Without the pick-up, I doubt I would be able to make the effort.
John Mann says
“The Kent County Commissioners ended Chestertown’s curbside recycling program in 2010 to save the county $400,000 in annual expenses.”
Isn’t it more accurate to say the “Commissioners ended KENT COUNTY’S curbside recycling program”. While this article is encouraging, I’d like to see the data on how much recycling was collected county wide before 2010 compared to today (not just specific to Chestertown).
My fear is that most people outside of the municipalities are simply throwing away recyclable material.
BarbaraSnyder says
I agree!
Briggs Cunningham says
If the recycling program were to expand so that all of the (roughly) 2,200 residences in Chestertown participated, the amount of materials collected would likely double to 400 tons (roughly). It costs the Town $56. per ton to dump solid waste at the regional landfill. So, conceivably, the Town could avoid $22,400 in annual tipping fees; the cost of Infinity’s service is ($4 x 2,200 residences, or $8,800/month) $105,600/year, so actually the Town could end up paying $83,200/year to collect the recycling, which works out to $3.15 per residence per month. I’d say that is a pretty good price for keeping 400 tons of solid waste out of a landfill. In addition, a good part of the recycled materials go to local companies that employ local residents, which is good for the local economy. Keep up the good work, Chestertown!