Transfer Station FAQs

When is the Transfer Station open and where is it located?

The station is open Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. year round; and Wednesdays, between Memorial and Labor Day, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  The Station is closed for Christmas and Easter Sunday.
The Transfer Station is located on Cemetery Road in Leverett.
The entrance gate is next to the Cemetery.
Vehicles should display a current sticker in front of the rear view mirror. 
Click link to order current sticker: http://leverett.ma.us/content/transfer-station-sticker

Transfer stations: when open and where?

The 25 most frequently asked recycling questions at the Leverett Transfer Station
Paper Products
Paper
1. Q. Why can we now recycle plastic windows?
A. Paper manufacturing is an intense process; remaking paper is a tricky and intense process. Many things like paper clips and staples are easily removed; other stuff, like inks, glues and plastic are more difficult. Paper plants have devised ways (through filtration and other means of separation) to remove plastics. Important note! I’ve been told that the plastic windows in pasta boxes still should be removed
2. Q. What types of paper products should not be recycled?
A. Do not recycle: shopping bags or wrapping paper with a metallic or plastic coating; nor any form of paper tissue, or paper towel. Do not recycle textured cardboard (often used in packaging). Do not recycle paper cups nor paper plates.
3. Q. Why do we have to bag or tie paper products?
A. So we fill and ship only one recycling container per week. If paper is not bagged or tied, it can’t be stacked. If it can’t be stacked, it will take up a lot more space. Is more explanation really necessary?
Cardboard
1. Q. Should we remove tape from cardboard boxes?
A. If the box has so much tape it would take the better part of a decade to remove it, then trash the box. Otherwise, remove excess tape and recycle it.
2. Q. Should the cardboard be recycled if it’s wet, soiled or stained?
A. It depends on how wet, soiled or stained it is. If the cardboard has been soaking in water, is impregnated with lots of dirt and gravel, and has oil stains, then clearly it should not be recycled. Oil and grease stains are the worst, followed by dirt while water stains are the least harmful to the recycling process. Small (small!!!) amounts of dirt and stain are acceptable.
Cardboard can get wet and still be recyclable; but, once it’s soaked to the point it starts to fall
apart, it’s better not to recycle it.
3. Q. Can we recycle cardboard tubes?
A. It depends on how thick the walls of the tube are. If the walls of the tube are thicker than 1/4 inch, the pulper may not be able to break it down.
4. Q. Can we recycle pasta boxes with the plastic window?
A. No, the window has to be removed.
5. Q. Why can’t we recycle Pizza Boxes
A. It makes those in Springfield envious. No, just kidding. They almost always have oil stains, and they attract rats.
5. Q. Must I really completely flatten the box; can’t I just step on it?
A. Although it may be cathartic to stomp, it won’t do the job. The corners of the box will come back up and take up too much space. Completely flatten the box. If you are having difficulty, let us know and we’ll loan you a box cutter.
Textured Cardboard
6. Q. You say you accept egg crates yet we can’t recycle them.
A. The fibers used to make “textured cardboard” are too short for recycling. We accept egg crates because there are people in the area that use them; but do not put them in the recycling container. We accept them as part of our reuse efforts, like the Book Shed and the Take It or Leave It. Other forms of textured cardboard, like those used in packaging should be trashed or used to start fires in the wood stove.

Bottles and Cans
Glass:
1. Q. Why can’t I put broken glass in the recycling container?
A. Much of the container’s content is sorted by hand. Broken glass is too difficult to sort, and it’s dangerous for the sorters.
2. Q. Why can’t I put plate glass (flat glass) or drinking glasses into the container?
A. These glasses all have different physical characteristics; which means they will not blend
well with the other glass containers during the recycling process. They will cause defects in new
bottles.
3. Q. I thought glass had to be sorted according to color?
A. It does, but that happens in Springfield or at some other recycling facility.
4. Q. Can metal caps and lids on glass containers be recycled?
A. Yes.
5. Q. Why can’t we recycle ceramics or tempered glassware?
A. See number “2".

Plastic
1. Q. Why can’t I recycle plastic caps, even if the plastic bottle and cap are made of the same stuff?
A. Because the caps pop out of the bails. Plastics are now transferred from Springfield (where we ship our plastics) to a secondary sorting plant. Springfield does some preliminary sorting then bails its plastic for shipping. The caps pop out during the compaction phase of the bailing process; and, probably fall through the wire after bailing. Bailing is nothing more than compaction followed by wire bundling. This is not the same reason that was provided a few months ago.
2. Q. My Styrofoam tray has a recycling logo on the back; why can’t I recycle it?
A. The recycling numbers (usually located within a triangle made of chasing arrows) are
general at best. Two items with the same number can be very different things. Although all
plastics are made of long carbon chains, called polymers, they have different characteristics. For
example a plastic milk jug and a Styrofoam tray can both have a number “2" on them, yet they
are made of very different materials. Additionally, there is so little material to recover from
Styrofoam, it is seldom worth the effort. The recycling process, in some cases, would be more
environmentally taxing than the creation of a new tray.
3. Q. Can plastic pastry cases (boxes) be recycled?
A. Yes
4. Q. Can plastic microwave trays be recycled?
A. Yes
5. Q. My motor oil and antifreeze containers have a recycling logo on the bottom, why can’t I recycle them?
A. They contained hazardous materials. No matter how clean one gets them, they are not wanted.
6. Q. You say you accept plastic planting pots; Why can’t we put them with the bottles and cans?
A. They do not want that type of plastic. There is an area between the white shed and office for planting pots.
7. Q. What is the largest size plastic container I can recycle
A. Five gallons.

Other
1. Q. Why do cardboard juice and drink boxes, and frozen food containers, go in with the bottles and cans?
A. Beats me. No, just kidding. It’s easier for the Recycling Facility to separate these items
from the bottles and cans than it would be to separate it from the paper and cardboard. The same
is true for freezer board (the cardboard used for frozen food packaging that will tear white).
Cans
1. Q. Can we recycle metal caps and lids?
A. Yes
2. Q. Why can’t we put flatware, coat hangers and the like in with bottles and cans?
A. Because it’s not what the folks that buy our recyclables want; and, we can accept these things, usually without charge, in the metals container. Most cans are made of a specific sheet steel. This is what those who buy our recyclables are expecting/paying to get. They do not want (and are not paying for) general scrap.
3. Q. Can we recycle aerosol cans?
A. Not in the recycling container; but, they can be put in the metals container.