The new program is expected to increase recycling by making it simpler for residents, officials said. Officials said that more recycling will translate into more cost savings. The new recycling program is about $40 less expensive to recycle a ton of waste than to send it to landfills or incinerators, according to the mayor and the city’s environmental services team.
Over the next year, the city will deliver about 55,000 new 64-gallon wheeled barrels to the residents living in single-family homes and buildings with six or fewer residential units.
The residents can place all their recyclables in the barrels, including paper, plastics, glass, and cardboard. Jamaica Plain and Roxbury residents will be the first recipients of the wheeled barrels.
Boston has started considering a conversion from its dual-stream system, in which paper and plastic items are separated, to a single-stream system when its recycling processor, Casella Waste Systems, said it would be utilizing its materials recovery facility to separate the mixed items, said Susan Cascino, the city’s recycling director.
A pilot program of the single-stream system in Boston neighborhoods from May 2007 to July 2008 has showed a 50% increase in recycling, the mayor’s office said.
