Wednesday is America Recycles Day and in recognition, the Hilltown Resource Management Cooperative is encouraging residents to “recycle right, and recycle often.”
By now, most of us have gotten use to separating things like cans, bottles and plastic containers from cardboard and newspapers and recycling these items rather than adding them to landfills.
But there is one material that should never find its way into our regular plastic recycling and that culprit is plastic film — meaning things like plastic grocery bags, sandwich and food storage bags, product wrap, newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags and shrink wrap from furniture or electronics.
“This is the most unwanted product that ends up in the recycling stream at the municipal recycling facility in Springfield,” Kathleen Casey of the Hilltown Resource Management Cooperative said.
Casey says that plastic film cannot be recycled at the facility, because the sorting systems are designed for more rigid materials. This plastic is a huge problem at the facility as it not only gums up the machinery, but poses a threat to the safety of employees.
“It becomes tangled in conveyor belts and sorting equipment, causing frequent shutdowns,” she said, noting that workers risk injury when trying to fix the equipment.
Casey noted that one unfortunately popular way that some people package up their recyclables is to put them into plastic bags, which also throws a wrench into the works.
“Recyclables should never be placed inside plastic bags,” she said. “When this happens, workers have to cut or rip open the bags, taking time to remove the recyclables, which not only slows down the process but can be unsafe for them.”
All Hilltown Resource Management Cooperative member-towns — Ashfield, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Huntington, Middlefield, Plainfield, Westhampton Williamsburg and Worthington — have mandatory recycling bylaws banning these items from municipal curbside or transfer station recycling, or in recycling bins at apartment complexes, businesses or schools.
Plastic films are only recyclable in a separate, enclosed system, like those in grocery and retail stores. Bags are recycled into products such as plastic lumber.
Casey says that recyclable bags must be empty, clean and dry, free of trash, and free of staples. Retail bags should have string and hard plastic handles removed.
“So pack up your recyclable plastic film in a recyclable plastic bag and take it to your local plastic film-recycling drop off,” she says.
For a complete list of which plastic bags and films can be recycled in stores, and the location of a film recycling facility near you, visit: plasticfilmrecycling.org.
For more information on recycling, waste disposal, technical assistance, and sustainability services visit: hrmc-ma.org.
Sugarmaker Paul Zononi of Paul’s Sugar Shack in Williamsburg, has won second place in the maple candy category, and third place for his granulated maple sugar, at the North American Maple Syrup Council’s annual competition, held in October in Levis, Quebec.
The weeklong event is held in a different state or Canadian province each year.
“It was fantastic,” Zononi said. “There is a lot of competition in Quebec because it is a huge industry up there, so I figure we did pretty well.”
In 2016, Zononi left the same competition, which was held then in Burlington, Vermont, with six blue ribbons for six of his seven entries.
“To get a blue ribbon the judges have to consider it a perfect product regarding things like color, consistency and flavor,” Zononi said. “After 53 years of doing this, I guess I have it pretty well figured out.”
Winton Pitcoff, director of the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association, said he was happy to see Zononi place in the competition. He also noted that Heath maple producer Mike Girard won second place for his golden grade syrup.
“While other states and provinces produce more maple syrup than we do, it’s great to see our state’s sugarmakers honored year after year for making such excellent quality maple products,” Pitcoff said.
Zononi’s maple syrup and maple products are available throughout the year and can also be found at the Christmas Place at Paul’s Sugar House, 28 Goshen Road, which is now open from November and December. The Christmas Place carries fresh wreaths, roping, and locally cut trees, and features locally crafted gifts from more than 70 artisans and craftsmen.
After 27 years of selling Christmas trees in Cummington, the Clearview Christmas Tree Farm, at 108 Dodwells Road, will be close after this season.
Owned by Bill and Jane Adams, the business is saying goodbye on a charitable note, by offering any proceeds from trees sold this year to the Cummington Church.
“The church is struggling, so hopefully we will get enough people to come down and find something that they like,” Jane Adams said.
While many of the trees have been sold to wholesalers, Adams says that there are still some left for individuals, especially those looking for large trees.
“With large trees you can be creative if you need to, cutting off the top and turning a 12-foot tree into a 7-foot tree!”
For years, Hilltown residents and others have made it a family tradition to get their Christmas tree at Clearview, which allowed people to select and cut their own trees.
Adams said that during their peak, between wholesale and individual sales, the small farm business sold 3,500 trees a season.
“It has been a wonderful experience and we loved doing it,” Adams said. “We made a lot of close friends and met a lot of interesting people.”
Once the trees are gone, Adams says they may consider growing hay and corn.
Donations will be accepted for the trees, which will be available from day after Thanksgiving to the first snowfall of Christmas eve, whichever come first. Please call first at 634-5342.
Ideas for this column on life in the Hilltowns can be sent to Fran Ryan at Fryan.gazette@gmail.com