letter, tip sheets, guidelines and posters

1.
City of Newton
Single Stream School Recycling Program Documents
1. Letter to Schools from School Operations
2. Why Recycle? Fact sheet
3. School Recycling Procedures
4. School Recycling Tips
5. Fluorescent Bulb Recycling Guidelines
6. Recycling Guidelines Flyer
7. Kick‐Off Poster
For more information, contact:
Mike Cronin
Chief of Operations
Newton Public Schools
Michael_cronin@newton.k12.ma.us
617.559.9000
Courtney Forrester
Recycling Manager
Newton Department of Public Works
cforrester@newtonma.gov
617.796.1471

2. February 1, 2010
Dear School Principals, Recycling Coordinators and Staff:
Thank you for completing the recent recycling survey. We are excited to announce that
the City will begin rolling out a single stream recycling program to the schools later this
month. This program is part of a City mandate which has been in place for residential
recycling. Single stream recycling allows mixing paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and tin
in the same collection container.
What NPS Operations Department has done to prepare for single stream recycling:
We have surveyed all of the school buildings to determine how the NPS Operations
Department and Newton DPW can assist your efforts to recycle. We are working closely
with DPW, and will be meeting with you pending your scheduling an appointment with
us at:
www.mysignup.com/newtonrecycling
We have created an infrastructure district wide to support each school building’s efforts,
including working with your teachers, classroom and student club initiatives, parents,
custodial staff, and kitchen staff.
Role of NPS Operations Department:
1. Program design and implementation in conjunction with schools and the DPW.
2. Ongoing support and program oversight, including working with all staff and the
waste hauler (via DPW.)
3. Provide training and educational and guidance materials to staff, coordinators and
teams as needed.
4. Provide equipment and signage as needed: recycling bins, toters and dumpsters.
5. Serve as liaison to the DPW's Environmental Affairs staff that will coordinate
pick up schedules and provide sticker labels for recycling bins.
Configuration of Each School Program:
Since the schools currently have a range of programs that recycle varying types and
amounts of items, our goal is to both support existing efforts and to help schools either
expand or start a program to recycle single stream.
While each school may have a unique collection system, the Operations Department may
seek to standardize some recycling activities to ensure program sustainability and quality
of the recycled materials.
Role of School Recycling Coordinator:
Your school’s Recycling Coordinator (a staff person) will serve in the following
capacities:

3. 1. Communicate regularly with the senior custodian and other staff to make sure that
recycling is working and serve as a liaison to the Operations Department.
2. Distribute or post signage, brochures and educational program information, as
appropriate.
3. Be the leader of your school's recycling efforts and education.
Next Steps
1. School Recycling Coordinator schedules a kickoff meeting with DPW and School
Operations Staff using a sign up sheet at: www.mysignup.com/newtonrecycling
2. Program start-up involving dissemination of equipment, signage and guidance
documents, including posters, fact sheets.
3. Ongoing monitoring and trouble shooting.
We look forward to working with your school to implement this expanded recycling
program. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Thank you,
Carol
Carol Bock Chafetz
Director of Operations & Environmental Affairs
Operations Department
617-559-9000

4. Why Recycle in Newton Public Schools?
We recycle about 1 ¼ tons of paper a day in the Newton Public Schools. Recycling a ton
of paper saves us approximately $70 in solid waste disposal costs and returns revenue
from $15 to $100 a ton depending on the current market price for our recycled paper.
There are even bigger environmental savings.
Recycling a ton of paper saves:
 17 trees (50% of the worlds tree harvest is for paper which is unsustainable)
 Enough energy to power the average American home for six months
 7,000 gallons of water (60% less than using trees to make paper)
 Reduces environmental pollutants by 70 percent
 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space
 Greenhouse gas emissions by one metric ton of carbon equivalent (MTCE)
reducing Global Warming
Approximately 50% of the waste stream in public schools is paper and 18% is bottles and
cans. We will easily increase our paper recycling this year through the addition of new
classroom and staff recycling programs.

5. CITY OF NEWTON
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT RECYCLING PROGRAM
Recycling Procedures
Single Stream Recycling
 All paper products, glass, metal, and stiff plastic containers (#1-#7) can all go in the same
container
 Recycling dumpsters are picked up every Thursday by Waste Management. As this is only a once
per week pick up, please ensure your dumpster area is not blocked by vehicles.
 If you are using green carts to supplement your recycling capacity, please place these carts to
the curb by 7am on your neighborhood’s collection day. (If you don’t know your collection day,
please contact DPW)
 Cardboard boxes should be flattened to save space. See attached sheet for what is accepted.
 At no time should any corrugated cardboard or recyclables be placed in the trash dumpster.
These items have been banned from Massachusetts landfills and incinerators. Trash crews have
been instructed to notify DPW if there are any unauthorized materials in a school dumpster (such
as cardboard, paper, plastic bottles, computer monitors and televisions, fluorescent bulbs) and
could cause the dumpster to not be emptied.
 Please be aware of the procedures at your school for emptying classroom and office recycling
bins. If there is no procedure, please contact Support Services so that we may help you set one
up. (See attached tip sheet.)
 Please contact Support Services at x9005
 If you need additional trash or recycling bins
 If you need additional labels or signs for your bins or dumpster
 For missed collections
Educational Resources
 The DPW has many resources available to the schools, including curriculum and resources. Also,
we are available for workshops, classroom presentations and can help coordinate related field
trips. Please contact Courtney Forrester if you’d like to learn more at x1471
Fluorescent Bulbs
 The school’s custodial staff should store fluorescent bulbs of all shapes and sizes separately for
recycling in their original packaging. Fluorescent bulbs should never be broken intentionally or
thrown in the trash.
 We can provide free storage containers, including 4-foot fiber drums, 4- and 8-foot boxes, and
5-gallon storage pails.

6.  Fluorescent bulbs should be stored at each school until notification from the School Department
of special collections (usually twice a year). To obtain additional storage containers, please
contact the DPW.
 Please refer to the proper storage and handling procedures, attached
Computer Monitors, Hard Drives, Televisions, Keyboards, Mice, and Printers
 All computers, televisions and computer equipment can and should be recycled. These items
have been banned from Massachusetts landfills and incinerators due to their toxicity when
handled incorrectly.
 All schools must store these items for special collections, contact Support Services for more
information.
Batteries
 Non-alkaline batteries (NiCad, NiMH, button cell, rechargeable, computer batteries, etc.) should
be recycled. DPW can provide 5-gallon pails to collect and store these non-alkaline batteries.
Once the container is full, please bring to the Resource Recovery Center at Rumford Ave.
Printer Cartridges
 Cartridges from desktop printers, laser printers, and copiers can be mailed to a vendor for
recycling. Please contact DPW at x1471 to receive free shipping supplies.
 Cell phones can also be collected for recycling. Please contact us if you’d like to set up a
program.
Composting
 If your school is interested in composting your food waste (in a classroom or the entire school),
please contact Courtney Forrester x1471
Additional Resources
 The MA Department of Environmental Protection encourages participation in the GREEN Team.
Membership is free and participating classrooms receive an array of interactive resources and
curriculum ideas to promote recycling and reuse, all while meeting MA curriculum frameworks.
For more information, visit www.thegreenteam.org
 Promote reuse in your school community. How? By organizing a book and media exchange
where students can swap items. Swap books, CDs, video games, and videos. All left over
materials will be picked up and recycled.
WHO DO I CONTACT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS?
CONTACT INFORMATION:
School Department Support Services: Anne Cogan x9005
Email: Anne_Cogan@newton.k12.ma.us
DPW Environmental Affairs: Courtney Forrester x1471
Email: cforrester@newtonma.gov or recycling@newtonma.gov
Website: www.newton

7. HOW TO HELP YOUR SCHOOL RECYCLE AS MUCH AS IT CAN!
1. The tracking of your school’s recycling program is based on the weight of the
material recycled by your school.
 Paper adds the most weight the recycling total.
 Flattened cardboard also has a lot of weight per unit of space.
2. To maximize recycling
 Make sure each classroom and office area has both a trash can AND a recycling bin.
This way, valuable recyclables won’t get mixed with trash.
 Make sure recycling containers are clearly marked.
 Need more bins? Need new labels? Call Support Services at x9005
3. Determine how recyclables will be conveyed from classrooms and office areas to
the recycling dumpsters.
 Is there a classroom, grade level or student group who want to do it? Great!
 If not, work with custodial staff to set up program. School Operations can help.
 Options to consider:
 Recyclables can be collected at same time as trash in a separate barrel
 Larger containers can be placed in the hallways to consolidate recyclables collection
from the classrooms
HOW RECYCLING HELPS
 Recycling saves the City money. Each ton that is recycled saves the City approximately $60
in avoided disposal costs and increased revenue, this figure fluctuates based on the current
market price for recyclables.
 Each ton of paper recycled can save seventeen 35-foot trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 4,000
kilowatts of energy (enough to power the average home for 6 months) and create 5 times
the number of jobs as traditional paper manufacturing methods.
 Each ton of plastic recycled can save the equivalent of 2 people’s energy use for 1 year, the
amount of water used by 1 person in 2 month’s time and almost 2000 pounds of oil.
 Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a
computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.
 Why waste a good thing? Recycle More.

8. CITY OF NEWTON
FLUORESCENT BULB RECYCLING PROGRAM
To protect the health of custodians and school occupants and our environment, care must be taken
when handling FBs to reduce the amount of mercury released.
STORAGE
New
 Only remove new FBs from their packaging when they are ready to be placed in a fixture.
Spent
 Place in proper storage immediately upon removing from the fixture to eliminate accidental
breakage.
 Store containers of spent FB in a ventilated area, which is a separate, secured and protected
area that is not occupied (in case the lamps break during storage). This storage area should be
marked as a Universal Waste Accumulation Area.
 Use approved containers in good shape. These can be the fiber drums and/or the boxes
provided by the recycler OR the original packaging boxes with the packaging material removed.
 Containers must not be over stuffed.
 Close the storage container between uses.
 Once a box is full, close and secure it.
 Label the containers with the words "Universal Waste - Mercury-Containing Lamps(s)" or
"Waste Mercury-Containing Lamp(s)" or "Used Mercury-Containing Lamp(s)".
 Mark the container with the date on which you first began storing the lamps as it must be
recycled within a year that accumulation began.
BREAKAGE
Hazards and Precautions when a FB breaks indoors:
 Secure Area - Immediately cordon off the area where breakage occurred, so that nobody steps
in broken glass, phosphor powder or mercury.
 Ventilate - Open a window or door that opens to the outside near the broken bulb to ventilate
the area. If there is no window or door to the outside, or outside the building, do not wait to
clean up.
 Leave Area and Wait – Leave ASAP to avoid breathing in any vapors and wait for 15 minutes.
The more bulbs that break at one time, the more danger this poses.

9. Clean-Up
 If a lamp breaks in the universal waste storage container, do not empty the container.
Contact Support Services at 559-9000 to have the container collected by or delivered to an
authorized waste handler ASAP.
 If a lamp breaks outside of the universal waste container:
Materials You Will Need (if you do not have spill kit)
 Supplies - material to delineate the spill area (e.g. string, tape), disposable gloves, index
cards or other stiff paper, sticky tape (e.g. duct tape), damp paper towel or wet wipe
 Disposal Container – find the smallest possible sealable container that the broken bulb will
fit in. A glass with a metal screw-on lid or a rigid plastic container with a tight-fitting lid,
such as a lidded five-gallon pail, are preferable. Most mercury recycling companies can
provide you an empty lidded five-gallon plastic containers for transporting.
Cleanup Procedures for Hard Surfaces
1. Clean-Up (Remember - NEVER USE A VACUUM OR BROOM TO CLEAN UP A BROKEN
BULB!)
a. Wearing disposable gloves, use stiff paper or cardboard to carefully push the glass
and powder to a central point where you can scoop it up. Be careful not to get it on
your clothing.
b. Place the collected fragments into the container. If you need to further break the
glass to fit it into the container, do this outside, being careful not to cut yourself.
c. Use sticky tape to pick up any visible glass shards, powder or mercury and place it
in the container.
d. Use wet wipes or moist paper towels to wipe the area thoroughly.
e. Place used towels and disposable gloves into the container and close it tightly. Once
closed, do not re-open it to put more material in.
2. Store and Dispose of Spill Waste
a. Label the container "Universal Waste - Broken Fluorescent Lamp" and date it.
b. Place the container in a well-ventilated area, or where other spent lamps are stored
for recycling.
c. Contact Support Services at 559-9000 to have disposed ASAP in case mercury
vapors leak out of the container.

10. Cleanup Procedures for Carpeted Surfaces
Note: Research performed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has shown
that after standard cleanup procedures, some residual mercury may remain on the carpet.
1. If the carpet is in an area where young children or pregnant women may be exposed,
contact Facilities Operations Manager to determine if you should to cut out and replace the
section of the carpet where the breakage occurred in order to remove any residual
mercury.
2. If carpeting is not removed, follow the steps listed above.
3. After completing these steps, ventilate the area to the outside to the best of your ability,
using a fan if possible.
4. Keep foot traffic off the immediate area of breakage for several days.
5. Ventilate the area when it is next vacuumed and remove and dispose of the vacuum bag or
empty and wipe out the canister immediately afterwards. If possible, vent the area to the
outside the next few times the area is vacuumed.
RESOURCES – for questions, or for additional guidance:
1. Carpet - http://www.state.me.us/dep/rwm/homeowner/cflreport.htm
2. Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Mercury Hotline toll-free at
866-9-MERCURY (866-963-7287)
3. Bureau of Environmental Health in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) at
617-624-5757.
COLLECTION
 is the current vendor that the DPW is using to collect and recycle
fluorescent bulbs.
 All schools must collect and store their FBs until notified of the special collection dates by
Support Services. At no time should FBs be placed in the dumpster.
 Please contact Support Services x9005 to order replacement packaging.

11. RECYCLING
Simple as ever…Just put it all together!
It’s so easy! All paper products, flattened cardboard, plastic
containers, metal cans, glass in one container…….No more separating!
Paper products:
Acceptable Materials  Paper (not contaminated with food),
newspapers, magazines, catalogs
 Colored paper
 Paperboard (cereal and shoe boxes)
 Brown paper bags
 Hard and soft cover books, phone books
 Junk mail, envelopes of all types
 Cardboard, please flatten
Containers (must be empty):
 Stiff plastic bottles and containers (#s 1-7)
 Glass bottles/jars (any color)
 Aluminum (pie plates/trays/foil)
 Clean metal cans (tin/steel/aluminum)
 Milk and juice cartons; milk jugs; bleach,
detergent, shampoo bottles; clean food
containers (cottage cheese, margarine,
yogurt, etc.)
DO NOT INCLUDE:
 Plastic bags (return shopping bags to supermarket)
 Unmarked plastic
 Foam packaging or Styrofoam (packing peanuts can be reused)
 Recyclables with food waste
 Light bulbs (Fluorescent bulbs are handled separately)

12. Simple as ever, just put it all together!
Just like at home, you can place your paper in the same
container as your bottles and cans.*
No more sorting required!
*All bottles and cans must be empty before putting in the recycling containers.
Start Today!
Helpful tips:
 Make sure you have both trash and recycling containers in your classroom
 Use classroom and hallway containers to separate your trash and recycling
 Encourage everyone to properly separate trash from recycling
For questions and more information, please contact your school’s
recycling coordinator:_________________________________