Charlestown’s recycling efforts lag

Recycling revenue the lowest in the state

By Will Collette

The Chariho Times reports payments to Rhode Island cities and towns for their share of the profits from their recycling efforts. The state’s Resource Recovery Corporation, operators of the Central Landfill in Johnston, reaped $1.8 million in annual recycling profits and each municipality got its share.

Richmond received $12,271. Hopkinton and Westerly received almost $60,000.

But the smallest check awarded to any Rhode Island city or town went to Charlestown - $6,908 for only 342 tons of recyclable material.

For a town that has prided itself on its environmental values (at least until we turned into anti-wind nuts), why did we do so poorly?

Town Administrator William DiLibero told the Chariho Times that “it’s a complicated issue. We have a lot of private haulers in town, and I fear that the material is not properly being recycled and separated. I’m disappointed with the number. It’s dismal. I plan on meeting with the haulers and making sure the right number is recorded for next year.”

But Charlestown’s reliance on private haulers is hardly unique. Our neighbors don’t have municipal collection either and neither do many other non-urban towns across the state.

In 1986, when the state enacted “flow control” – mandatory recycling, strict restrictions on land-filling and the channeling of waste to the Central Landfill – Charlestown attempted to opt out.

In letters written by then (and present) Charlestown Public Works Director Alan Arsenault, Charlestown sought an exemption from the law. Instead, the town wanted to expand the use of its unlined and poorly monitored landfill operations along Narrow Lane and Old Coach Road.  

As Arsenault wrote to the RI Department of Environmental Management on October 3, 1986, “To prejudice [the town’s landfill expansion plans] would unfairly burden rural taxpayers who bought this parcel as an alternative to the construction of a transfer station.”

As for the mandatory recycling aspect of the new law, Arsenault wrote “The vacationing public will be less likely to participate in any recycling program for several reasons….many individuals feel freed of normally responsible behavior – vacation mentality….There is no incentive for these people to recycle….[and] there are limited penalties which can be brought to bear on the tourists.”

If you note the litter and trash strewn along our roadways, you see that maybe Arsensault’s 24 year old characterization of our summer visitors as pigs is still accurate.

In his July 23,2011 departmental report, Parks and Recreation Director Jay Primiano reports the daily problem of dealing with trash above and beyond normal beach traffic.

“The evening trash problem persists,” wrote Primiano, “as the neighbors use the beach recycling centers as a repository for their household trash each evening.”

If you check the trash bins and dumpsters at our local businesses (Michael’s, Rippy’s, the Mini-Super, Cumberland Farms, Dunkin’ Donuts), chances are you’ll see a lot more than food wrappers.

But, again, Charlestown is hardly unique among coastal towns for having both day trippers and summer residents.

The best explanation I can think of is that our vacationers seem to feel an extraordinary sense of entitlement, more so than in neighboring towns. There’s something about the Charlestown ambience that seems to give visitors the sense that it’s ok to be pigs, that those of us who live here permanently will pick up after them.

When I’m out policing bags full of litter from my Route One frontage, I certainly feel less than warm and fuzzy about these privileged visitors. I wasn’t joking when I commented a few weeks ago that, now that we have our own municipal court, we ought to bust more motorists who toss litter from their cars.

And the lack of recycling revenue, plus the added costs of trash disposal are more items on the list of costs we permanent residents pay to provide our privileged visitors with a nice place to visit.