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A Wellesley resident who moved into town a few years ago asked us recently why the Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility isn’t open most Sundays (“I can’t tell you the amount of head-scratching and consternation this single issue causes for all new residents. This is so hard for households with two working parents,”).

Our recall on this issue was fuzzy, so we asked Gordon Martin, RDF superintendent, for clarification on the matter:

In 1997, the RDF first opened on Sundays after the RDF Improvement Project was completed. The facility was open 7 days a week until July of 2005. The DPW reduced the number of days the RDF was open because of budget cuts.

Now, we are open only 6 Sundays a year for the busy Fall season. There have been no recent talks that I know of about re-opening on Sundays, but I’m sure some would love it. There’s no doubt in my mind that if we were open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, residents would come in all throughout the day and night.

The last time I looked at the numbers, the cost of opening on Sundays was about $50,000 a year. It may actually be a little higher now because of inflation.

Martin added that the Department of Public Works supported Sunday hours, but that residents in 2006 voted against an override to fund this (funding for school expenses was approved, but not for branch libraries or RDF Sunday hours).

If you’re wondering if closing the RDF on a weekday and opening it on Sundays has ever been considered, the answer is Yes. But shipping recyclables during the week is big business for the town, which is conveniently located near highways and has favorable trucking operation rules, and it was determined that regularly closing on a weekday would be bad for business.

RELATED: $20K Wellesley dump book mystery still unsolved

In light of the story of the Marlborough man who found the money-filled, hollowed-out book at the Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility, some raised the obvious question: “Hey, wait a minute, what was a Marlborough guy doing at the RDF in the first place?”

(Others have chimed in to chide those who would deprive this man of his once-in-a-lifetime find, even though he has attempted to find the rightful owner of the book.)

As for RDF permitting rules, Gordon Martin, superintendent for the RDF, explains:

“We issue two types of permits. Residents get the permit sticker for their windshield, the second type of permit is an orange placard that the residents are required to place on their dashboards upon entering the RDF.

These placards are temporary and have an expiration date on them. The permit holder typically has full access to the facility; in some situations, we may decide to restrict access by writing on the placard what the restriction is. As you can imagine, once a person is given a permit, it’s very difficult to enforce the restriction.  

In the case with the Marlborough man who found the cash in the hollowed out book, the resident asked for a full access permit and we granted his request.”

UPDATE (4/25/12). The RDF’s Gordon Martin says he’s been working for the past 6 months with a Wellesley graduate student who has been working on a documentary about the RDF that she hopes to have aired on the BBC Network.

The BBC Tuesday apparently visited the Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility as part of some sort of report from the Boston area today. I’m sure their report is quite brilliant and much more complete than this. You might be able to listen to it here, though we weren’t able to immediately pinpoint it.

Thanks to local Linda K, who first mentioned “the beeb is at the wellesley recycling center!!!!!!!! OMG!” via Twitter.

From the Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility:

From the Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility:

It makes little sense, and yet almost everyone has done it: throwing away refundable containers. After all, it’s essentially the same as opening a change purse and throwing a handful of coins into the trashcan. And yet, improperly disposing of refundable containers is a national problem.

According to the Container Recycling Institute, the recycling rate for beverage containers has dramatically decreased. At the same time, the number of bottles and cans in the trash has increased. How many beverage containers are currently littered/trashed in the commonwealth? According to www.sierraclubma.org “Over 1 BILLION containers per year are littered or sent to our rapidly disappearing landfills – enough to fill Fenway Park to overflowing!” In Massachusetts, aluminum cans, plastic soda bottles and glass bottles are refundable.

The Wellesley RDF has clearly marked areas for refundables—just follow the signs! Make sure to sort out those recyclables that belong somewhere else, like plastic water bottles, and glass jars. Thanks for “Stepping Up!” For more information, contact Superintendent Gordon Martin at 781-235-7600 x 3340, or visit the RDF website at: www.wellesleyma.gov

From the Wellesley Recycling & Disposal Facility:

With painting season coming to a close soon, you may want to clean out those unused, partially used, old or otherwise unnecessary cans of paint. The Wellesley RDF will accept latex and oil-based alkyd paint for recycling. Last year alone, the RDF collected over 5 tons of paint!

You can drop your paint off at the RDF on the first Saturday of the month, from April thru October, between 9 AM and 1 PM. Paint is available from the shed during regular business hours. Rather than immediately buying new paint, see what’s available-you never know what you’ll find.

A reminder-if you have turpentine, other solvents, or unmarked containers, bring those materials to the Household Hazardous Waste Products Collection in the spring we can not accept them now.

For more information, contact Superintendent Gordon Martin at 781-235-7600 x 3340 , or visit the RDF website: www.wellesleyma.gov

Get your last-minute holiday shopping done today at the RDF, as the reusables area closes for the season.

Separately, note that Cell Phones are December’s Recyclable of the Month (just be careful about what data you leave on them…). From the RDF:

Donating your cell phone at the RDF not only reduces clutter around the house, it may save a life, is a revenue stream and environmentally beneficial. According to a 2007 study conducted by iSuppli Corporation: ” there are an estimated 700 million used cell phones in America today and 125 million added to the heap every year, it’s utterly incomprehensible why people refuse to recycle cell phones. In that study, a staggering 36.8% declared that they stored their cell phones somewhere, 10.2 % said they threw their cell phones away or lost these, and only 9.4 percent recycled their used cell phones.”  Wireless phones can be redistributed, refurbished or recycled – almost every part of a wireless phone is recyclable! Mobile devices often contain toxic chemicals and therefore should always be donated or recycled.

For more information, contact Superintendent Gordon Martin at 781-235-7600 x 3340, or visit the RDF website at: www.wellesleyma.gov

From the Wellesley RDF:

Steel is used in a variety of products ranging from cars to cans and is made from recycled steel, which means that anytime you buy any steel product, you are purchasing a product that has been recycled. According to Fact Sheet,”Virtually every car taken off the road today is recycled – thanks to the steel and iron content! Recycling just one car saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.” Recycling steel saves enough energy each year to supply 18 million homes with electricity for an entire year (Recycle Room).  Steel is magnetic and therefore a magnet easily distinguishes the difference between steel and aluminum products.

For more information, contact: Superintendent Gordon Martin at 781-235-7600 x 3340, or visit www.wellesleyma.gov