Recycling News & Updates

Happy New Year Cambridge!

In This Issue:
  • Holiday Tree Collection
  • Three Items That Can't Go in Curbside Trash or Recycling
  • What to Do with Broken String Lights?
  • Introducing Did You Know?
  • Glocal Challenge: CRLS Students Propose Ways to Reduce Food Waste in Cambridge 
  • Stuff Swap at the Winter Farmers Market  
  • We're Hiring!
Holiday Tree Collection

Holiday trees will be collected curbside with your trash/recycling until this Friday, January 13. Remove all decorations and the stand. Place bare trees (no plastic bags) at the curb with your trash and recycling. 
 
Residents may also bring bare trees to the Recycling Center during open hours until January 31, 2017. 
Three Items That Can't Go in Curbside Trash or Recycling
 
Cambridge has a goal of reducing waste by 30% by 2020, with a baseline of 2008. To reach this goal, DPW hired consultants to analyze Cambridge's trash and recycling. In our audits, we found the following items that shouldn't be put in trash or recycling:
  • Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) contain mercury and should never be in the trash or recycling. To dispose of them properly, please bring CFLs to the Recycling Center or visit our website to a disposal site. Incandescent bulbs go in the trash.
  • Electronics (anything with a cord or battery) contain valuable metals and materials. Please take a moment to find out how to get rid of it right or call 617-349-4800. 
  • Textiles, such as clothing, shoes, bedding, and just about any other clean textile can be recycled. Nonprofits such as Big Brother Big Sister, Goodwill, and Red Cross benefit from your donated textiles. Torn, ripped, or broken textiles ARE accepted for donation or recycling.
What to Do with Broken String Lights?
 
String lights can't be placed in curbside recycling. Electronics such as these should not be in the trash either. So what are your options?

1. Bring to the  Recycling Center  during open hours for recycling.
2. Ship them to HolidayLEDs.com for free and receive a 15% off discount on new string lights.
3. Ship them to Christmas-Light-Source.com and they'll give you a discount and donate proceeds to Toys for Tots.

thinking_girl_idea.jpg
Introducing: Did You Know?

To start 2017, we are introducing a new section to the newsletter : Did You Know? This section's goal is to inform our readers of different topics in the waste industry. 
 
Did you know the 2014 Massachusetts food waste ban, the first such ban in the US, created 900 jobs and added millions of dollars to the economy? 

ICF, a Cambridge consulting firm, published this analysis:
Click above to watch the video for the 2015-2016 Glocal Challenge
Glocal Challenge: CRLS Students Propose Ways to Reduce Food Waste in Cambridge


The Glocal Challenge is an annual competition at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School (CRLS) to tackle a global issue at the local level. 
 
For three months, students attended expert-led workshops and received mentorship from local professionals to tackle the issue of food waste in Cambridge.
 
Student teams pitch their ideas to judges and compete to win funding and paid internships from the City to implement their proposal. The top two teams will earn scholarships to the EF Global Leadership Summit in Italy this summer.
 
Cantabrigians are invited to attend the Glocal Challenge Finals and vote for your favorite project on January 19, 5:30-8:30pm at EF Education First.

Email [email protected] to RSVP.
Stuff Swap at the Winter Farmers Market 

Cambridge Winter Farmers Market will be hosting Buy Nothing Cambridge o n Saturday, January 14th, 10am-12pm in the common room (upstairs from the gym where the market is located). 

All are invited to share clothing, accessories, books, DVDs & small household items. Bring something or nothing and leave with a neighbor's previously loved items. No  large/bulky items and no electronics. All remaining items will be donated. Cambridge Recycling will have a table and information on how to get rid of it right.
We're Hiring!

Cambridge Recycling is hiring a full-time Waste Reduction Program Manager.
Stay in the loop!
to this monthly e-newsletter!
  • Missed recycling, yard waste, compost or trash?  Please use Commonwealth Connect and report it online or via mobile app (iPhone/Android) or call DPW at 617-349-4800 by 12 noon the day after collection.
  • Need toters, brochures, labels, or posters? Email [email protected] or fill out this form. 
  • Following a holiday, collection may be delayed one day. Check the 2017 collection schedule.
Our address:
Cambridge Department of Public Works
147 Hampshire Street, Cambridge MA 02139
(617) 349-4800
[email protected]
Cambridge Dept. of Public Works | Recycling | 617-349-4800 | [email protected]
The Recycling Division of the Cambridge Department of Public Works
encourages people to consume less, reuse and donate materials,
and recycle what cannot be eliminated or re-used.
STAY CONNECTED: