Most Norwood residents should have no problem fitting all their trash into the new 64-gallon containers.
The town is distributing the containers this week for the new automated trash and recycling system, which gets underway Oct. 6. Each household gets a 64-gallon wheeled container for trash and a 96-gallon container for recycling. The reason for the size difference, according to Town Manager John Carroll, is that when residents recycle more, they will not need as much room for garbage.
“The idea here is to strongly encourage people to recycle as much as possible,” said Carroll.
Norwood is sending a strong message to its residents: Don’t trash when you can recycle.
Much of what we throw away is recyclable. According to the Norwood Recycling Coordinator’s Web site, the new single-stream program can handle cardboard (thin and corrugated), most paper (including newsprint), tin and aluminum cans, and plastic containers like jugs and bottles. With the exception of food waste, there’s not much else that a normal household throws away on a daily basis.
The new containers also eliminate the need to sort, making recycling the easiest it’s ever been. We suggest households keep two cans in the kitchen and wherever else they collect their trash, one for recyclables and one for the little that’s left over. Aiming your trash to the left or the right as you toss it should not take too much extra effort.
For years, recycling has been a hassle for those of us used the convenience of throwing away and forgetting about trash. By dumbing it down for busy residents as much as possible, Norwood is making progress on a local level on a problem with global significance: our dwindling and increasingly fragile natural resources.
