Ken Parker Calls for Reopening of Newton's Book Swap and Electronics Recycling Center
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 04:34PM In a column in today's NewtonTAB, Alderman Ken Parker calls on the City of Newton's Department of Public Works to reopen the Rumford Ave book swap and electronics recycling centers.
New England has a long tradition of encouraging re-use of unwanted items at town dumps. In some of our neighboring cities and towns, so-called “transfer stations” have been extremely successful and have not been limited to books and electronics.
Re-use is actually a more environmentally sound alternative than recycling. The recycling process requires energy and involves chemicals that can result in toxic waste byproducts. It is therefore better for an old computer to be re-used than for it to be broken down into its component parts and recycled. Even reusing circuits, optical drives and memory chips is a better alternative than recycling them.
Currently, only 35% of Newton's waste stream is recycled. There's a great deal of room for improvement; sharing old books and recycling electronics are just two ways Newton residents can help reduce the City's environmental impact. As Mayor, Ken Parker would look to dramatically boost recycling rates, and has proposed a recycling rate goal of 75% by 2015. To learn more about his plan, please click here.