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What does going to Ecomaine mean to the City of Saco?

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June 15, 2007
In July of 2007, the City of Saco will start sending our garbage to Eco-Maine. The trucks that currently collect the city garbage at the curb will continue to do so, and your garbage and recycling collection days will remain the same. There have been some rumors that the City will collect single stream recycling in July as well. This is not the case. In January of 2008, the City of Saco will have the option of changing our recycling program over to Single Stream Recycling. Our current recycling program is considered dual stream, where the paper and other fiber products are sorted separately from our bottles and cans and other commingled containers. Right now, all of our paper typically goes to Haverhill, MA where it is not sorted, but all mixed together with cardboard and newspaper from other sources to make paperboard, which is the consistency of a cereal box. Our containers go to Eco-Maine; however, the City is not currently in a contract with Eco-Maine. Once there, our containers go through a machine that sorts most of the materials and the rest of the materials are sorted by hand. The reason the City will not switch to ecomaine right away for the recycling is because the City has a contract with Corcoran Environmental. Eco-maine is running their single stream sorting equipment right now for other eco-maine communities. And, because they have changed the way they sort recyclables, the City of Saco can now accept #1 through #7 plastics( did you know that most plastics have numbers located at the bottom?). This is great news for people who hate to throw any plastics in the garbage. There are more and more items that are acceptable. For those of you wondering what the different types of plastics are, here you go: #1 Plastic soda bottles and soap containers, packaging for fruit or eggs #2 Plastic milk jugs, water jugs, detergent bottles, plastic bags #3 Plastic packaging and some containers, mustard bottles, lemon and lime juice containers #4 Plastic packaging, some containers, typically plastic bags #5 Plastic take out containers, yogurt cups, cottage cheese tubs, butter tubs, some Tupperware #6 Plastic food packaging, take out containers, plastic cups, coffee cup lids #7 Plastic cosmetics containers, heavy duty water bottles, plates and cups We can recycle any kind of plastic that you find a recycling symbol on with a number inside of it! Unfortunately, there are still some items that we cannot take in the recycling; one of those items is Styrofoam. This one is tricky, because often times Styrofoam will have the recycling logo and the number 6 in it. This is because at one point in time the Styrofoam was #6 plastic, but it’s been chemically altered to puff up and turn into Styrofoam. Styrofoam cannot be made into a new product and so we cannot take it in the recycling. Another item that cannot be recycled is plastic wrap. Plastic wrap, or shrink wrap, is not a high enough quality to recycle into something new. Ecomaine has made it so much easier to recycle and the best thing the City can do is take advantage of this. Remember, every ton the City recycles is a ton of waste that this City does not have to pay to burn! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact the Public Works Office at 282-1552 or by email at aoliver@sacomaine.org.