The three silver bullets outside of the Windham Public Works building will be gone by June 30. Chance Viles / Lakes Region Weekly
WINDHAM — The town is about to see the last of the large and often problematic “silver bullet” recycling bins.
The Town Council agreed to phase out the bins, located at the Public Works building, by June 30, citing their cost redundancy and the difficulty in monitoring them.
“We do pay about $20,000 a year to have the silver bullets hauled away on top of our curbside (recycling), so it’s redundant,” said Town Council Chairman Jarrod Maxfield.
“The concern was the amount we are paying in general and, frankly, we cannot guarantee they are being used exclusively by Windham residents. The people who use them seem to be businesses,” he said.
Public Works Director Doug Fortier told the council last week that contractors appear to be using the bins, with no guarantee they are from Windham.
“We are one of the only communities that don’t have the Silver Bullets at a transfer station and don’t monitor (the bullets) on a regular basis,” said Gretchen Anderson, the town’s environmental and sustainability coordinator.
The town heard complaints over the years about the silver bullets being used as a dumping ground for everything from sofas to used hypodermic needles. In 2005, the town shut down the receptacles because of illegal dumping and misuse. Fortier said back then that it had been a “constant battle to keep them clean because people were just abusing it.”
Recycling contamination at the bins has also been a cost concern in previous years, but the council reported that with new signs and a recent intern outreach program, their contamination rate has gone from about 18% to 8%. Last year, Windham paid about $500 to remove contaminated recyclables
In this fiscal year budget, Windham allotted roughly $711,000 to take care of trash and recycles, with about $20,000 of that for silver bullets specifically. Windham also budgeted an additional $50,000 to take care of possible contamination in the bullets.
The bullets will remain until June 30 to give some time for people using them to note the change.
“They were also funded through our fiscal year, ending June 30, so the sunset period made sense,” Maxfield said.
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