Wellesley RDF special events, May 2019

New Wellesley dump mystery: A safe deposit box key is found

Wellesley RDF Reusables Area now open

Wellesley Recycling and Disposal Facility — April 2019

Wellesley RDF Superintendent Azano-Brown (re)cycles into new position

Paint recycling — May 4

Household waste and document shredding — May 5

Wellesley RDF hours:

RDF hours:

One more RDF drop-off area

Saturday, April 6, 2019 — paint recycling

Sunday, April 7 — first RDF Sunday opening for season

Thursday, April 11 — Reusables Area opens

Monday, April 15 — RDF closed

The RDF hours are:

He helped bring the Food Waste Drop-Off Program to town

May 3, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Bring your old latex and oil-based alkyd paint to the Wellesley RDF for recycling on Saturday, May 4, 2019. The paint shed will be open 9am – 1pm.The following materials are accepted: Interior and exterior latex paint, interior and exterior oil based alkyd paint, and solidified paint. Materials that are not accepted are: creosote and turpentine, other solvents, and unmarked containers. These materials may be brought to the RDF on Household Hazardous Products Collection Day on Sunday, May 5, 2019.

This is your opportunity to dispose of any hazardous items in your home at the Wellesley Recycling and Disposal Facility, and to have documents shredded. Please see the below list of items that can/cannot be brought to the RDF on this day.

Wellesley hazardous waste

Contact the Wellesley Fire Department for guidance on getting rid of explosives, fireworks, and radioactives.

Monday – Wednesday, 7am – Noon
Thursday and Friday, 7am – 3:45pm
Saturday, 7am – 4:45pm
Sunday, through Nov: 11am – 3pm

April 11, 2019 by bbrown Leave a Comment

Swellesley reader CF found herself quite lucky to snag a red leather zippered Levenger folio/wallet at the just-re-opened Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility’s Reusables Area.

But she noticed later that inside her treasure was another find: a small blue envelope containing a key to a safe deposit box.

wellesley rdf leather — Can you solve the safe deposit box mystery?

Could this be the long-awaited sequel to that story of the hollowed-out book found at the dump years ago that was filled with $20K?

Might this overshadow Mr. & Mrs. Swellesley’s own harrowing library book snafu at the RDF?

The imagination gets carried away thinking about what could be found in a Wellesley-owned safe deposit box.

One clue for anyone who thinks this might belong to them: The numbers 1057 are handwritten under the flap of the envelope. The envelope warns: “‘loss of keys will cause you considerable expense.”

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April 11, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley RDF reusables The Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility‘s (RDF) Reusables Area, where residents drop off their cast-offs and pick up those of their neighbors, is back after a winter hiatus. Many a home in town, yes even those swank enough to be on the Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club Kitchen & Home Tour, boast dump treasures that have achieved pride of place on the very mantlepiece.

Here are the RDF rules. Some follow them. Some break them. But nevertheless, they are in place.

Wellesley RDF, vase — Here’s a lovely wooden vase I picked up last year at the RDF Reusables Area. Perfect for holding a bouquet of spring tulips, flopping over like they just don’t care.

Wellesley RDF, volunteers — Wellesley RDF Reusables Area volunteers Barbara Faubert (left) and Martha Kiley. They could use reinforcements, so if you’re interested in volunteering stop by the RDF or email [email protected] for more information.

Monday – Wednesday: 7am – Noon
Thursday and Friday: 7am – 3:45pm
Saturday: 7am – 4:45pm
Sunday: 11am – 3pm

Wellesley RDF, toilet The RDF has added a portable restroom for use during the Reusables Area season. Assistant Director of the Department of Public Works Jeff Azano-Brown said it was placed there “…with the intention of reducing customers walking across the traffic lanes to get to the Customer Service Office. It is open to all users of the RDF, serviced weekly, and not compostable (sorry). There is one unisex restroom in the office which is available as well but the office gets very busy and crowded so we’re encouraging our customers to use the portable restroom.” (See also: “Potty time in Wellesley is a colorful sight“)

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April 5, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley RDF It’s Spring, and that means things are starting to ramp up at the Wellesley dump. On the schedule: paint recycling day, Sundays hours, a Monday closure, and the triumphant return of the Give and Take area after a winter of hibernation. If you’ve never shopped the drop-off tables at what amounts to a free yard sale, you’re missing out on a simple neighborhood event, part of the very fabric of Wellesley. In fact, I scored a very nice roll of Arts & Crafts- inspired fabric there last year. I swear I’ll pull it out from under the bed and have it made into curtains this spring.

Paint may be dropped off for recycling at the RDF on April 6, 9am – 1pm.

The following materials are accepted: interior and exterior latex paint, interior and exterior oil based alkyd paint, and solidified paint.

Materials that are not accepted are: creosote and turpentine, other solvents, and unmarked containers. These materials may be brought to the RDF on Household Hazardous Products Collection Day.

Other dates for paint recycling are the first Saturday of each month through October.

The RDF will be open on Sundays, 11am to 3pm, April 7 – November 24, 2019.

The Reusables Area will be open for the 2019 season, weather permitting starting Thursday, April 11.

Volunteers needed. Email [email protected]

The RDF will be closed for Patriots Day on Monday, April 15 for Patriot’s Day. So forget about chores that day, get out there and watch the Boston Marathon as the runners dash through the halfway point of Wellesley Square on their way to the Boylston Street finish line.

Monday – Wednesday, 7am – noon
Thursday and Friday, 7am – 3:45pm
Saturday, 7am – 4:45pm
Sunday, Apr 7 – Nov 24: 11am – 3pm

PART 1: Mr. Swellesley leaves library books at Wellesley RDF; Mrs. Swellesley mad as all get-out

PART 2: Readers rescue almost all Wellesley library books we left at the dump

PART 3: Time for Mrs. Swellesley to pay up at the Wellesley Free Library

March 23, 2019 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

Jeff Azano-Brown at the Food Waste Drop Off area.

The Town of Wellesley has selected Jeff Azano-Brown as the Assistant Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW) where he will oversee the DPW’s Management Services division and other financial and business aspects of the department. Azano-Brown has run the Recycling and Disposal Facility (RDF), a division of the DPW, since 2016, and has been with the DPW for 17 years.

The DPW is in the process of starting a search for a new RDF Superintendent. For now, Azano-Brown will divide his time between the RDF and the DPW until a new Super is hired. Which isn’t quite as glamorous as dividing one’s time between, say, Wellesley and Chatham, as many in town do. But Azano-Brown has never been in it for the status.

His new job will allow him to take a wider view of Town infrastructure. “Working at the RDF has given me a deeper understanding of how important the RDF is to the Wellesley community,” Azano-Brown said. “I’m looking forward to supporting its mission as the Assistant Director and broadening that support to help all the DPW divisions achieve their goals.”

Here are a few things Azano-Brown has done for the dump lately:

« May 2019 »

Wellesley’s Food Waste Drop Off Program was introduced by the Wellesley 3R (Reduce Reuse Recycle) Working Group as a pilot project in October 2017 as a way to reduce the amount of trash going to landfills and improve the environment. It started off as a pilot program with 300 families who agreed to drop off their food scraps at the RDF. The program went from pilot to permanent earlier this year, and around 600 families now participate. Here’s how to join in.

Read all about what happens from there in our exclusive interview with Azano-Brown.

[Read more…]