10

Page 10 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, October 9, 2020 Malden has plenty of early voting hours for residents as Nov. 3 Election Day nears Malden Senior Center hosts early voting from October 17-30 R ~ Guest Commentary ~ Malden’s recycling audit reveals challenges epresentatives from the City of Malden recently By Steve Freker M alden voters will have plenty of options to cast their ballots early if they choose, as the November 3 Election Day nears. The General Election this year has an early voting period which runs from Saturday, October 17 until Friday, October 30. All those wishing to participate in either early voting, voting by mail, or in person – traditionally – on November 3 must be registered to vote. The deadline to register to vote in this election is October 24 and it may be done online or by mail, with instructions available on the city’s website, www.cityofmalden.org. There is much interest anticipated for the coming election, which features the 2020 Presidential Election between incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Also on the ballot, in addition to state and Congressional races, is the U.S. Senate election between incumbent Ed Markey, D-Mass., a Malden resident, and Republican challenger Kevin O’Connor, an attorney and businessman from Dover. Malden City Clerk Greg Lucey this week announced the location and hours of the city's early voting for the Oct. 17-30 period. All early voting in Malden will take place at Malden’s John and Christina Markey Malden Senior Community Center (7 Washington St., Malden). Early voting will be available seven days a week during the Oct. 17-30 period. On Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17-18 and again on Oct. 24-25, early voting will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Oct. 19, 21, 22, 26, 28 and 29, early voting at the Senior Center will be held from 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. On Tuesdays, Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, early voting will be held from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. On Fridays, Oct. 23 and 30, early voting will be from 8:00 a.m. until noon. participated in a recycling audit at JRM’s GreenWorks facility in Peabody, Mass. The purpose of the audit was to visually examine a sampling of recycling collected from one of Malden’s collection routes. As the representatives from the City observed, more than half of the recycling that was brought in that day was rejected for a variety of reasons. From plastic bags to Styrofoam, food waste to dog waste, Malden has been missing the mark when it comes to clean recycling. But when it comes to determining the source of this contamination, the answer lies deeper than the occasional careless disposal of a sloppily rinsed jar of peanut butter. When asked about what or who might be responsible for this, Mayor Gary Christenson points out that there are definitely many pieces of the blame pie to be dished out. “We’ve heard from our residents that they just don’t understand why this has suddenly become a problem when JRM has been accepting recycling bins without issue for over a decade.” Take, for instance, one of the more common items that can trip up even the most conscientious recycler: milk and broth cartons. These plastic-lined cartons, which are also known as aseptic cartons, have the appearance of a purely paper product, but many recycling facilities, including GreenWorks, are unable to strip away the plastic liner to fully recycle the material. “In the case of many of these materials that were once accepted by JRM, the answer lies in the dwindling market for recycled raw materials,” said Christenson, referring to a worldwide decline in the demand for these raw materials. Another common mistake seen on the curbs of Malden’s recycling routes is not contained in the blue bin itself but in the form of plastic bags, presumably to contain the overflow of the 18-gallon City-issued blue recycling bin. Another case where residents’ intentions are good, but the outcome is bad – these plastic bags tangle the sorting machines and bring the entire recycling plant to grinding halt. “It is clear that we have to make some big changes in order to fix this problem,” said DPW Director Bobby Knox, who manages the relationship with Malden’s trash and recycling hauler, JRM. Residents are frustrated, perplexed and in some cases infuriated with what seems to be the City frequently changing its rules and procedures time and time again. This is evidenced in many heated debates on social media platforms. Fortunately for the residents of Malden, two recent initiatives might help this uphill battle. The first is a recently awarded grant of $40,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection – called the Recycling IQ Grant – which was obtained by Mayor Christenson’s office late in 2019 and runs through the end of October 2020. The goal of this program is to combine an extensive outreach campaign with a boots-on-the-ground effort to give residents feedback right at the curb. Part-time employees travel the JRM route on trash day and leave informative stickers and literature to explain the issues in detail. In many cases, these workers are even stopping on their route to have extendTRASH | FROM PAGE 3 to support the plan. Several of the letters in favor of the Roosevelt Park rehab plan were from supporters of the Salemwood School, which is adjacent to the park, and its students. Included were Malden Public Schools Athletics and Physical Education Department Director Charlie Conefrey. “It would be a disservice to our community and to the Salemwood School students not to support this plan,” Conefrey stated conversations with residents who are looking for a more detailed explanation for what’s going wrong. The second and most significant initiative is in the form of an entirely new trash and recycling program proposed by Mayor Christenson. In a letter sent to the City Council in early September, he stated his longstanding goal to overhaul Malden’s Pay as You Throw (PAYT) program. The proposal calls for all residents who participate in PAYT to receive one 35-gallon trash tote as well as one 35-gallon recycling tote, which will replace the standard two 18-gallon blue bins that residents are currently using. The new totestyle bins will be wheeled carts that have a lid to prevent what has been a common problem of litter caused by items blowing out of the top of the existing open-topped blue bins. “I am really pleased that not only were we able to finally deliver on a longstanding promise of improving the PAYT program but also that it was done with an extensive amount of resident feedback,” said Mayor Christenson. During the implementation of this new program, the City’s Communications Director, Ron Cochran, intends to run an extensive outreach and education program that will be made available in multiple languages. “Over the years we have been building up our communication strategy around our solid waste program. From online tools to social media advertising campaigns and more, we are committed to getting the word out there to help our residents navigate this large-scale change successfully,” said Cochran. If approved by the City Council, residents could see this program launch as early as late fall/ early winter. ed. “This plan would provide a clean, safe and well-maintained park for thousands of youths for years to come.” In the final 8-3 vote, Councillors Neal Anderson (Ward 7), Camell, Paul Condon (Ward 2), Peg Crowe (Ward 1), Barbara Murphy (Ward 5), City Council President Sica, Craig Spadafora (at Large) and Steve Winslow (at Large) voted in favor of allowing for the loan application. Opposed were Councillors Debbie DeMaria (at Large), Amanda Linehan (Ward 3) and O’Malley (Ward 4).

11 Publizr Home