Reducing
First, for the foreseeable future, leaves will still be picked up as long as they are in craft bags. Leaf pick-up in Bath begins on October 29, and continues every Monday through the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Residents can also bring leaves, lawn clippings, and other yard waste to the landfill on Detritus Road.  The landfill has several large compost piles going at any given time.

The Maine Resource Recovery Association sells composters through the towns every year, and last year, they cost $39.50.    It is expected that the price will be similar next year.  To get one, you have to order it in advance through the landfill office.  Call the landfill office at 443-8356 early to get on the list. 

Sales start in February, but the compost bins are not delivered until May.  Compost bins are very important to reduce the amount of material being put in trash bags, since a lot of this material in the landfill is kitchen waste.  For those who don’t have a compost bin, it is very easy to begin a compost pile.  Not only is it possible to reduce kitchen waste, it will be good for Bath’s gardens next spring!

Other good ways to reduce trash include purchasing items with little or  no packaging.  When purchasing clothing, for instance, leave the hangers at the store unless you are certain you will need to use them.  You may be able to leave large packaging at the store where you make a purchase, or make purchases at stores where packaging is not a necessity.  Ask that large items be stickered rather than bagged. If you must purchase an item in packaging, try to buy one with packaging that can be easily recycled, for instance, dry beans in a cardboard box rather than a plastic bag. Try to bag your own groceries in cloth bags.

Use cloth diapers rather than disposable ones. If you shudder at the thought of all that laundry, take heart; there are several diaper services now opening up in the midcoast that make cloth diapers an affordable, convenient, and sanitary solution.  And much friendlier to a baby’s behind than paper and plastic!

Reusing
If possible, reuse an item at least once.  Store dry beans or small amounts of confectioner’s sugar in old spaghetti sauce jars; keep small children’s toys in an old diaper wipe container.  If the item cannot be recycled, reconsider purchasing the product in the future. Vote with your dollars, and the manufacturers will listen! Use old grocery bags to pick up dog waste, rather than a lunch baggie.

Recycling
Now that Bath has single-stream recycling, many things that were once not accepted can now be recycled.  Any kind of paper, including paper with staples and paperclips, can be recycled.  You can recycle juice cartons, including the little juice boxes in kids’ lunches.  Have them bring them home to recycle, since schools are not yet required to recycle.  Box board, such as cereal boxes, can now be recycled, too.  In addition, any colored glass is recyclable.  Plastics 1 - 7 can be recycled.  Newspapers, magazines, corrugated cardboard, tin cans, alumninum cans, steel cans, alumninum foil and pie tins can be recycled, now, too. 

Please rinse all items before putting them in your recycling bins.
A few things still cannot be recycled through the single-stream recycling.  Plastic bags, such as the kind groceries are packed in, cannot be recycled.  Take them to Shaw’s or wherever the bags came from.  There are locations in the stores where the bags can be returned.

Packing material, such as peanuts and firm styrofoam, plastic air-pocketed cushioning, and other packing material cannot be recycled, either.  However, in Bath, you can take them over to Mail it 4 U, and they will reuse them in packaging.
For your own packaging needs, use unbuttered popcorn.  On the other end of the trip, your giftee can get a package nicely protected, and have a nice gift for his or her birds, too.

Universal waste, such as TV’s, computer monitors, and fluorescent lights and bulbs, cannot be recycled.  Take them to the landfill.  Some things cost a little to leave at the landfill, but they will be sure they are recycled properly.

Pay as you throw will take everyone a little time to learn, but we will all benefit from reducing our solid waste, both in the reduction of cost to the environment and in the reduction of our tax dollars.