WEST BOYLSTON — Wachusett Earthday is a flurry of activity on any given day, thanks to a dedicated core group of volunteers who ensure that the large-scale regional recycling center runs smoothly year-round.
Although the place, which is officially called the Wachusett Watershed Regional Recycling Center, was closed to the public on a recent weekday afternoon, there was a lot going on. A Fresh Start Furniture Bank volunteer was there filling a truck with furniture and housewares that will go to the Hudson spot that distributes things to those in need, a monthly occurrence at the recycling center.
“Jackie volunteers with us on Thursdays so she can scope out the goods,” Wachusett Earthday Executive Director Norma Chanis said of the win-win partnership.
The West Boylston resident also mentioned Household Goods in Acton, which does an event twice a year at the recycling center located at 131 Raymond Huntington Hwy. in West Boylston. Household Goods brings trucks, and people can donate items to them without a fee.
Around Chanis, a crew of volunteers was busy putting away donated items in areas organized by type, including toys, sports equipment, fabrics and textiles, craft supplies, homeschool and school materials, trinkets, pet supplies, housewares and more.
“It’s a labor of love,” said Kim Foster of Boylston, one of many volunteers who regularly donate their time.
The recycling center serves residents of Boylston, Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland, Sterling and West Boylston. The majority of the reusable items that have been dropped off by people are free for the taking, while others, some of which are brand new, are low cost. This ensures that less waste goes into landfills and the earth, and provides the opportunity to upcycle.
The center accepts curbside recycling items such as paper and cardboard, plastics and glass, and many hard to recycle things, such as televisions and mattresses, some for a small fee. Residents of the towns mentioned above are welcome to shop in the large building and bring a friend as guest to do the same. If you are a teacher or work for a nonprofit organization outside of the member towns, the center offers extra hours for you to shop.
Chanis said things are going well at the busy center, and that fortunately, they “have been flooded lately with more people volunteering,” for which she is grateful.
“Two hours open is four hours of work when closed,” she said of the amount of time it takes to put away and organize donated items.
Chanis, who has been in her role at the center for just over a year, is not new to the center. She has been volunteering at Wachusett Earthday since 2010.
“I went back to school for my master’s degree in organizational and environmental sustainability and was looking for a place to get some hands-on experience,” she said. “I’m working more with the public, town representatives, and volunteers I’d not have necessarily crossed paths with in the past. I like listening to people’s questions and concerns, as it helps us to assess our impact and see what else is needed. I also love hearing about and seeing people’s creative reuse ideas.”
She noted that she works closely with Operations Manager Mark Koslowske and the Wachusett Earthday Board of Directors.
“We are a unique site in that we are a nonprofit, on state Department of Conservation and Recreation property, and we work with the Department of Environmental Protection and seven specific towns,” Chanis said.
She said they typically have 100 active volunteers on the roster; some volunteer occasionally, and others are there several days a week.
“When we are open to the public, they do everything from validating residency and assessing fees at check in to helping direct people and unload vehicles elsewhere on site,” Chanis said. “We also help people find a wide range of items for reuse. Most are available for free, but we do have a small store where we sell some items to help supplement costs. On nonpublic days, we have volunteers sorting and putting out what was dropped off for the ReUse Resource building or working on other projects that are easier to do when not dodging cars and people. We also have volunteers who help with the website, social media, bookkeeping, tracking data, volunteer scheduling, and repairing items such as vintage electronics and sewing machines.”
Thanks to a recent DEP grant, the center was able to expand its capacity to store furniture for reuse and are repurposing the Annex trailer, the original place to shop. The trailer now holds an overflow of larger sports equipment, baby items such as strollers, medical assistive items like walkers and crutches, and luggage.
“There’s so much conflicting information about what you can and can’t recycle, and we do what we can to help navigate this easily by allowing people to bring most things to us to handle,” Chanis said. “We are a CHaRM site, meaning we take hard to recycle items in addition to that which can be done curbside. This includes banned items such as mattresses, textiles, tires, etc. We recycle what we can, sometimes tediously taking things apart to recycle electronics, plastic, and metals independently.”
When asked why it is important to have the recycling center, Chanis said that “people want to do the right thing with something, even when they no longer need or want it.”
“Our townspeople seem very invested in having their items reused.”
Wachusett Earthday winter hours through March are Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to noon, Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m., and the first and third Saturday of the month from 9 a.m. to noon.
There are several special collection dates in 2024, including extra Saturdays added on April 27 and Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. just for the disposal of hazardous household products; document shredding Saturdays on May 18, Aug. 17, and Oct. 19 from 9 a.m. to noon; and latex paint collection on May 4, June 1, July 6, Aug. 3, Sept. 7, and Oct. 5 from 9 a.m. to noon.
For more information, visit wachusettearthday.org and follow Wachusett Earthday, Inc. (facebook.com/wachusett.earthday.inc) on Facebook.
