Our new best friend is Gordon Martin. He runs the RDF — the town dump — in Wellesley, Massachusetts. He showed us around. It's so cool. They can recycle just about anything.
And if your parents ever need help remembering to recycle, you can tell them a small town like Wellesley makes nearly three quarters of a million dollars every year by selling recyclable materials and compost. That helps keep town taxes low and saves money they'd have to spend on shipping trash to the landfill.
Mr. Martin likes his work. He doesn't like the wild turkeys that live near the dump though. They can be really aggressive: one hit him on the head once.
We asked if people had to wash bottles before recycling them. He just asks for a quick rinse because they don't want to have animals going through the recycle bins. To help, there's a family of cats that keep pointy-toothed rodents away.
The RDF has a very popular area for freecycling: people can leave items for anyone to pick up. They also have clothing donation areas.
What's cool at your local dump or recycle area? Let us know.
Discover what you can do with your trash. Check out these sites to get started or visit your local town or city dump.
