By Kim Siebert MacPhail
Gretchen Carey arrived only a few days before Bedford Day but there she was, at the DPW booth, meeting, greeting and answering questions like an old pro. That’s because—although her youth belies it—Gretchen is indeed an old pro, with years of experience in recycling-related fields like chairing Burlington’s Recycling Committee, energy benchmarking, project management, and serving on Burlington’s Conservation Commission. She’s also worked as a volunteer to help each school in Burlington achieve its goal of becoming greener.
“The most important role I played was knowing who to talk to and connecting those who might not normally work together,” Carey said in a recent interview. “People would say, ‘I want to do a project. Who do I talk to and how do I fund it?’”
Being an effective liaison is how Carey envisions her job here in Bedford. While only scheduled to work two days a week, she will help the town buildings and schools improve their recycling systems, find new homes for stockpiled items that no one has known what to do with and answer residents’ questions about what can be recycled or how to handle the disposal of unusual materials. She also hopes to assist with the municipal purchasing process so that thinking about the environment when ordering becomes routine.
Eventually, Carey expects to turn her focus to helping residents better understand the new trash pick-up system and how to make recycling easier.
“There is some re-education to be done,” Carey said. But, she added, “Everyone is so helpful in the recycling community. They share the best ways of doing things and the pitfalls. That’s how I’ve learned a lot of what I know….The intent is to make everything easier.”
Strategies for how to motivate people are especially fascinating to Carey. “I need to talk to everyone—I’ve just gotten here and am still figuring out the culture. What works for each school, for example, may be different. Is competition a good way to do this? Maybe make it a science project where you measure how much food is wasted, for example.You have to figure out how to make it interesting.”
The value of one charismatic person in the right place is incalculable, Carey believes. “I give credit to people like Mike Griffin at the High School [head of the Science department, teacher of Environmental Science.] I haven’t met him yet but he is, from what I understand, the local green god.”
Carey is planning more of what she called “event days,” when residents can bring in specific materials or items to the DPW for disposal. A very popular paper shredding day that was held last year will be repeated and mercury and electronics recycling days will be added. Dates are not yet set for any of the proposed events but notices will go out as soon as plans are firm.
In the meantime, Carey encourages residents to check out the very informative pages of the DPW website dedicated to answering recycling questions: https://www.town.bedford.ma.us/index.php/departments/public-works/dpw-refuse-recycling?showall=1
To read The Citizen’s first article first about the new trash system posted in July, see:https://thebedfordcitizen.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/new-trash-system-working-well-says-dpw-director/
For The Citizens’ Q and A article about recycling, visit: https://thebedfordcitizen.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/trash-and-recycling-responses-to-readers-questions-and-comments/
Readers are welcome to use the comment section below to ask additional recycling questions which we will forward to Carey’s attention. Direct calls to Carey’s office are also welcome: 781-275-7605 ext 123.
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Great addition to the Town and DPW. I hope Cary will be encouraged to grow the recycling effort (town, residential, business) each year and host public talks where people can share good ideas.